Maternal Health

Connecticut hospitals and health systems are committed to addressing maternal health across Connecticut. Through CHA, hospitals and health systems have adopted a four-part strategy to guide their collective work and advocacy, informed by comprehensive federal and state-level reports on maternal health.

Strategy 1: Address Structural, Upstream, Root Cause Drivers of Maternal Health Such as Racism, Discrimination, and Economic Inequality.

Partner with community stakeholders and collaboratives to create community conditions that promote good overall maternal health. Focus on addressing upstream root cause drivers of maternal health such as economic inequality and racism. Other opportunities for partnership include addressing community-level factors that are associated with maternal health including stable housing, access to healthy food, transportation, diapers and other basic needs, and clean water and air.

Strategy 2: Support Programs to Expand Mental Health Services for Perinatal Mental Health Disorders Across the State.

Given mental health conditions are the number one driver of maternal morbidity and mortality in Connecticut, the expansion of community-based programs to support maternal mental healthcare is critical to ensuring maternal health before, during, and after pregnancy.

Strategy 3: Ensure Those Giving Birth Are Heard and Are Decision Makers in Their Care. Strengthen the Infrastructure for Community Engagement to Improve Maternal Health Equity.

Improve quality of care by elevating voices and supporting the engagement of women, their families, and their communities in maternity care. Explore methods for building trust and ensuring more regular, ongoing opportunities for people to engage — especially populations and communities who are marginalized, excluded, or underserved.

Strategy 4: Advance Data Collection, Standardization, and Harmonization to Capture Data on Health Conditions of Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period and Improve Maternal Care.

Access to timely and high-quality data is a key component for monitoring progress in improving maternal health. A more granular understanding of events that could have resulted in maternal deaths, as well as the overall health of women, can lead to the design and implementation of coordinated community and clinical approaches to prevent maternal mortality in the future.