MITRE Maternal Mortality Interactive Dashboard
In the developing world where pregnancy and childbirth can be risky, maternal
mortality rates are dropping—that's the good news—the bad news is closer to home.
Did you know that the United States is the only country in the developed world
to witness an increase in pregnancy related deaths?
It's natural for mothers and society to focus on baby's health; meanwhile nearly 1,000 expectant mothers
in this country die each year because of pregnancy-related conditions that are
preventable with timely and proper intervention.
This issue hits non-Hispanic Black women the hardest. For every Caucasian woman who dies from
pregnancy related conditions, between three and four Black women will also die.
We believe that saving these expectant mothers could start by searching the data.
So, MITRE researchers have developed a tool to assess the impact of funding
levels, healthcare access, as well as different toolkits to examine the impact
of these interventions on expectant mothers. We call this tool the
MITRE Maternal Mortality Interactive Dashboard.
A pilot study of the Maternal Mortality
Interactive Dashboard relies on detailed data from eight states that track
maternal mortality by race.
These datasets applied to the dashboard can
help identify quantitative correlations among demographic factors like race, age
socioeconomic status and maternal mortality.
For example, MITRE's maternal
mortality interactive dashboard forecasts the impact of efforts to
target common complications during pregnancy, including uncontrolled
bleeding, high blood pressure or blood clots.
Given a simulated population and
an interactive dashboard, these correlations help determine the
likelihood or risk of a woman dying as a result of pregnancy.
The MITRE Maternal Mortality Interactive Dashboard can help policymakers determine what
interventions might reduce the likelihood of maternal mortality.
And, it can help new mothers and their children get on with the business of living.