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"Tori's death exemplifies so many aspects of the challenges we face today in maternal health in the U.S.," says Dr. Alison Cowan, an OB-GYN and head of medical affairs at the health technology company Mirvie.

A new report details a comprehensive strategy to prevent preeclampsia, which affects about 250,000 pregnant women a year in the United States and 10 million worldwide.

Preventing preeclampsia — which affects about 5-7% of pregnant people worldwide every year — has benefits that stretch beyond pregnancy. Even if a pregnancy ends safely in a healthy birth, people with preeclampsia have more than twice the chance of developing cardiovascular disease later in life than those without it.

It’s up to policymakers to end the Black maternal health crisis. But in the meantime, with the right tools, Black moms can feel more secure approaching the medical system.

The maternal death rate significantly increased in 2021, with rates among Black people more than double that of their white counterparts, according to data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.

Chad has the highest maternal mortality globally, in staggering contrast to the one in 16,000 risk that a 15-year-old child in Australia or New Zealand has, the region with the lowest risk. The WHO report released last week contains innumerable sobering facts such as this one, that seem as though they more easily could have come from a 1923 report than from 2023.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has released a draft recommendation stating all pregnant persons should have their BP measured at each prenatal visit to help identify and prevent complications of hypertension disorders.

Of the nearly 1,000 pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. between 2017 and 2019, more than 80% of them could have been prevented, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released on September 19. 

Dr. Nick Van Terheyden of The Incrementalist podcast talks to Maneesh Jain, PhD CEO of Mirvie, that is bringing a level of personalization and safety to pregnancy with a revolutionary approach. Maneesh has an interesting back story that started as we unraveled the human genome and shares some important insights about that early work and the over-promised potential that was celebrated, but as he points out we had one, just one human genome sequenced.

Alison Cowan, MD, ob-gyn hospitalist and head of medical affairs at Mirvie, discusses the latest predictions for women’s health in 2023. From maternal mortality to preterm birth, Cowan dives into what health conditions will be affecting women most in 2023 and how the specialty is trying to combat these issues.