While most children may be unlikely to have adverse health effects from the illness, COVID-19’s overall impact on children’s health outcomes will likely be far reaching. 

An accurate census count helps ensure that all children and families get the resources and representation they deserve to help them reach their optimal health. However, the census has historically undercounted millions of people, many of them children.

In New York State (NYS), Black women are more than three times as likely to die from pregnancy or giving birth as white women. This disparity has persisted alongside the U.S.’s rising maternal mortality rate, which has doubled in the past 15 years. Recognizing the urgent need for change both within their state and across the nation, NYS launched an initiative to engage women of color in identifying sustainable solutions for improvement.

Racism has been baked into U.S. systems and structures since enslavement, and Black families and other people of color are still suffering its consequences. As health professionals, it’s vital to acknowledge that all forms of racism—institutional, personally mediated and internalized—are real, are present in health systems, and are adversely affecting the health of Black families. One person can’t solve a systemic problem, but there are impactful steps everyone can take to help address it. 

Louisiana has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country. And troublingly, Black women are dying from pregnancy-related deaths at over four times the rate of white women. According to a recent report, more than half of these deaths could have been prevented by making a system change, either at the patient, community, or hospital level. These findings illustrate the enormous potential that quality improvement initiatives have for reducing maternal mortality in Louisiana and eliminating the Black-white disparity in maternal deaths.. Here, the Louisiana Perinatal Quality Collaborative shares seven opportunities for improvement.  

Precious Lee has spent her lifetime navigating the health system, first as a patient with SCD and then, after her son Melvin was born with SCD, as a mother. She has lived with the impact of SCD, witnessed significant advancements in care, and intimately knows the barriers families still face. Here, she describes those challenges and elaborates on opportunities for continued improvement.