Marie Jean Denis, left, is examined by Jennie Joseph, lead midwife and clinic director at the Common Sense Childbirth clinic Wednesday, June 26, 2024, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Midwife Jennie Joseph touched Husna Mixon’s pregnant belly, turned to the 7-year-old boy in the room with them and asked: “Want to help me check the baby?”
With his small hand on hers, Joseph used a fetal monitor to find a heartbeat. “I hear it!” he said. A quick, steady thumping filled the room.
It was a full-circle moment for the midwife and patient, who first met when Mixon was an uninsured teenager seeking prenatal care halfway through her pregnancy with the little boy. Joseph has been on a decades-long mission to usher patients like Mixon safely into parenthood through a nonprofit that relies on best practices she learned in Europe, a place that experts say offers answers to an American crisis.
“I consider maternal health to be in a state of emergency here,” said Joseph, a British immigrant. “It’s more than frustrating. It’s criminal.”
The Biden administration, which in part is focusing on maternal mortality in this election year, acknowledges the U.S. has one of the highest rates of any wealthy nation — hovering around 20 per 100,000 live births overall and 50 for Black moms, according to the World Health Organization and U.S. health officials. Several European countries have rates in the single digits.
Research shows the vast majority of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable. Public health experts blame the United States’ high rates on a range of problems, such as inequities in getting needed health care, systemic racism, at times poor-quality medical care and a rise in chronic health conditions among women of childbearing age.
Solutions abroad can be translated to the U.S., experts believe. For example, many European countries make it easier to get prenatal and postpartum care that involves both doctors and non-physicians like midwives, said Dr. Laurie Zephyrin, a senior vice president at the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund who studies maternal care across nations.
Joseph’s organization — called Commonsense Childbirth — is a smaller-scale example of that type of care.
It has clinics, a birthing center and training for health professionals. The midwives who run the program welcome vulnerable patients that other practices turn away, such as those who are uninsured or haven’t had prenatal care until late in pregnancy.
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