A doctor uses a hand-held Doppler probe on a pregnant woman to measure the heartbeat of the fetus on Dec. 17, 2021, in Jackson, Miss. COVID-19 drove a dramatic increase in the number of women who died from pregnancy or childbirth complications in the U.S. last year, a crisis that has disproportionately claimed Black and Hispanic women as victims, according to a report released Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
A doctor uses a hand-held Doppler probe on a pregnant woman to measure the heartbeat of the fetus on Dec. 17, 2021, in Jackson, Miss. COVID-19 drove a dramatic increase in the number of women who died from pregnancy or childbirth complications in the U.S. last year, a crisis that has disproportionately claimed Black and Hispanic women as victims, according to a report released Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 80% of all maternal deaths are preventable. In Maryland, Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than their white counterparts.

To address this crisis, philanthropists and health officials are coming together to launch the Birth Equity Collaborative.

“We’ve funded a lot of programs,” said Elizabeth Kromm, director of Health Promotion, at the Maryland Health Department (MDH). “We’ve started a lot of promising projects, but we still have these disparities that remain, especially for Black women. We need to find out how to eliminate these disparities, and that’s the mission of this group.”

Read more (and listen) at WYPR.