Iowa's Enhancing Reviews and Surveillance to Eliminate Maternal Mortality Program - The death of a woman during pregnancy or the year after the end of a pregnancy is a tragedy for her family and for society. Iowa’s maternal death ratio has followed an upward trend over the past 10 years (2013 – 2022). According to the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (Iowa HHS) Bureau of Health Statistics (BHS) - Vital Statistics, the Iowa maternal death ratio/100,000 live births has ranged from a low of 8.3 maternal deaths/100,000 live birth in 2020 to a high of 48.9 maternal deaths/100,000 live births in 2021. We also have considerable racial and ethnic disparities. African American/Black and multi-race women represent 10% of Iowa’s birth cohort; yet they represented 20% of pregnancy related deaths. Similarly, Hispanic women represent 11.6% of Iowa’s birth cohort and 20% of pregnancy related deaths were among Hispanic women. Geographic disparities also exist. By maternal county of residence, 14.4% of Iowa’s birth cohort live in micropolitan counties, but represent 25% of pregnancy related deaths. Iowa’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC) committee determined that 95% of the pregnancy related deaths in years (2019 – 2021) were preventable. This Notice of funding Opportunity (NOFO) will support Iowa’s MMRC to systematically and comprehensively to review pregnancy associated deaths, to develop recommended strategies for preventing future deaths. Review committees access multiple sources of clinical and non-clinical information that provide a deeper understanding of the circumstances surrounding a death as they develop actionable recommendations to prevent future deaths. Iowa will utilize the standard national approach recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to collect and share data on pregnancy related deaths. With these data, Iowa MMRC will be able to facilitate and understand the drivers of maternal mortality and complications of pregnancy and associated disparities. They will identify interventions as patient/family, provider, facility, system and community levels to target prevention activities to the appropriate groups to preventing future deaths.
