Health Innovation Center   

In the developing world where pregnancy and childbirth can be risky, maternal

mortality rates are dropping—that's the good news—the bad news is closer to home.

Did you know that the United States is the only country in the developed world

to witness an increase in pregnancy related deaths?

It's natural for mothers and society to focus on baby's health; meanwhile nearly 1,000 expectant mothers

in this country die each year because of pregnancy-related conditions that are

preventable with timely and proper intervention.

This issue hits non-Hispanic Black women the hardest. For every Caucasian woman who dies from

pregnancy related conditions, between three and four Black women will also die.

We believe that saving these expectant mothers could start by searching the data.

So, MITRE researchers have developed a tool to assess the impact of funding

levels, healthcare access, as well as different toolkits to examine the impact

of these interventions on expectant mothers. We call this tool the

MITRE Maternal Mortality Interactive Dashboard.

A pilot study of the Maternal Mortality

Interactive Dashboard relies on detailed data from eight states that track

maternal mortality by race.

These datasets applied to the dashboard can

help identify quantitative correlations among demographic factors like race, age

socioeconomic status and maternal mortality.

For example, MITRE's maternal

mortality interactive dashboard forecasts the impact of efforts to

target common complications during pregnancy, including uncontrolled

bleeding, high blood pressure or blood clots.

Given a simulated population and

an interactive dashboard, these correlations help determine the

likelihood or risk of a woman dying as a result of pregnancy.

The MITRE Maternal Mortality Interactive Dashboard can help policymakers determine what

interventions might reduce the likelihood of maternal mortality.

And, it can help new mothers and their children get on with the business of living.