Research is an important component in addressing public health concerns. Discovering trends within the data and noting responses to measures across populations is paramount in improving and implementing effective public health procedures. 

NICHD or National Institute of Child Health and Human Development conducts and funds research in an effort to end preventable maternal mortality. The institute invests in research that encompasses disease processes and clinical interventions, demographic and socioeconomic risk factors, and clinical and institutional factors that influence pregnancy and childbirth outcomes. The primary goal of the institute is to develop new information and treatments to improve pregnancy, childbirth, and outcomes for mothers, fetuses, and infants. 

NICHD findings (or supported findings) include:

• The contribution of maternal characteristics and cesarean delivery to an increasing trend of severe maternal morbidity
• Trends and state variations in out‐of‐hospital births in the United States, 2004‐2017
• Frequency of and factors associated with severe maternal morbidity

Global Network for Women’s and Children’s Health Research is a network that supports and conducts clinical trials in resource-limited countries by pairing foreign and U.S. investigators, with the goal of evaluating low-cost, sustainable interventions to improve maternal and child health and simultaneously building local research capacity and infrastructure.

The Maternal Health Task Force is also working towards gathering and analyzing the most recent data on maternal health and is a catalyst for research improvement and innovation. 

Check out the Sustainable Development Goals and Maternal Mortality

Here you can find some of the latest news in the maternal health community:

• The Rising U.S. Maternal Mortality Rate Demands Action from Employers

• Why antenatal care is key to cutting down maternal deaths 

• Huge Racial Disparities Found in Deaths Linked to Pregnancy

• Perspective | Uncertain labor in Central Africa’s Maternal Mortality Crisis

• Reducing Maternal Mortality 

• These Women Are Saving Lives, One Pregnancy at a Time