Tackling persistent inequities underlying maternal mortality

The MBRRACE-UK collaboration , co-led by Oxford Population Health's National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit , has published the full Saving Lives, Improving Mothers' Care report on women who died during, or up to a year after, pregnancy between 2019 and 2021. The data from this report were published by the collaboration in May 2023. The full report, which is considered a gold standard for identifying improvements needed for maternity services, examines in detail the care received by the women who died and suggests strategies and interventions to prevent future deaths. This is the first full report to cover the period when the Delta variant of COVID-19 was most prevalent and its impact on maternal deaths. Data published by the MBRRACE-UK collaboration in May 2023 showed that persistent disparities in maternal health remained. In 2019 - 2021, women from Black ethnic backgrounds were four times more likely to die during or up to six weeks after pregnancy when compared to White women. There was an almost two-fold difference in the rate of deaths amongst women from Asian ethnic backgrounds compared to White women.