Virginia launched several new dashboards on Thursday to provide expected mothers with additional resources during periods of pregnancy, birth and postpartum by offering data on maternal mortality and deaths associated with pregnancy.
Managed by the Division of Population Health Data within the VDH Office for Family Health Services, the Maternal and childish health dashboard Displays measures on premature births, birth weight, infant mortality, prenatal care and maternal smoking. The data is sorted by year, region, health, locality and race district.
Two other dashboards use information from the vital file office on which to focus on maternal mortality And Death associated with pregnancy – Both provide data in five -year groups and display statistics by certain demographic groups.
“Today’s launch is another key step to provide the data necessary for this mission to all hands on the bridge. We make significant progress, but we will not stop working before each baby in Virginia was born from a healthy mother,” Glenn Youngkin said in a press release on Thursday.
The average maternal mortality rate in the United States is 18.6 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies, according to the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention.
Virginia has a maternal mortality rate slightly higher than average, 24.5 per 100,000 living births in 2024, down almost 50% compared to 2021 when the rate was 49 per 100,000 a report by the Virginia Department of Health.
States like Mississippi, New Mexico and Louisiana have higher maternal mortality rate That the national average, with rates above 60 deaths per 100,000 births, while California and Massachusetts had lower rates, closer to 10,000 births.
“Pregnancy and new maternity should be a sacred moment in the life of a mom and her baby. Last year, for more than 20 women and their families, it was a period of tragedy and loss ”, Virginia dry. Janet V. Kelly of Health and Human Resources said in a press release. “With specific and usable data, we can help suppliers throughout the Commonwealth to do more to support healthy babies and healthy mothers and prevent these tragedies in the future.”
The new dashboards are part of an initiative aimed at strengthening the maternal health of the Commonwealth by improving data, by expanding access to high quality care and increasing the awareness response to a Youngkin executive directive signed last year.