A new survey conducted by Emory University has revealed rates of pregnancy related deaths in Georgia are among the worst in the nation.
The survey, commissioned by Research!America in partnership with the Woodruff Health Sciences Center at Emory University, was conducted in October among 803 adults in Georgia plus 606 additional adults for “minority oversampling.”
The data shows one in 10 Georgians know of someone who has died during pregnancy, at delivery, or soon after birth.
In addition, 57 percent have experienced or know someone who has experienced complications during pregnancy.
People living in rural areas are more likely (65 percent) to have experienced complications during pregnancy or to know someone who has compared to people in urban areas (56 percent), according to the data.
In regards to the top factors perceived contributing to an increased risk of maternal mortality, substance use disorders (47 percent), lack of insurance (47 percent), and mental health (41 percent) ranked as the top three among survey respondents.
On the basis of insurance, 54 percent of Georgians said the top barrier is that health care is too expensive, even with insurance. Twenty-nine percent said they do not have insurance, while 28 percent said they face difficulties making appointments due to a lack of available initial and follow-up appointment times.
In regards to reducing maternal mortality, 73 percent of Georgians said that improving affordability of maternal health care would help while 70 percent said access to health insurance coverage.
A total of 82 percent said it is “important for the State of Georgia to increase investment in initiatives to reduce maternal mortality and support including maternal mortality as a state budget item” while 87 percent said it is “important to conduct research to combat health disparities.”
“The high level of awareness and concern about the devastating level of maternal mortality we see in this survey of adults in the state of Georgia represents nothing short of a call to action,” said Mary Woolley, president of Research!America.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Georgia Star News and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Resting While Pregnant” by Jen Gallardo CC-NC-ND2.0.
