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More Black midwives could help bridge maternal health disparities and reduce mortality

A midwife measures the heartbeat of a patient's fetus.  (Rogelio V. Solis/AP)
A midwife measures the heartbeat of a patient's fetus. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP)

Racially concordant care is associated with better health outcomes, but more than 90% of midwives are white. Expanding and diversifying the midwife workforce could help bridge maternal health disparities and reduce maternal mortality rates.

We talk to Annalisa Merelli, reporter with our partners at STAT, the health and medicine publication, about the obstacles in the way of a more diverse midwife workforce.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.