Policy Development Strategies to Improve Maternal Health

Building a health care system that centers the needs of our mothers and babies requires new policy approaches:

The United States is in the midst of a maternal health crisis. Women are dying at rates the U.S. has not experienced since the 1960’s. Maternal mortality rates increased by nearly 38% year-over-year from 2020 to 2021, and nearly doubled from 2018 to 2021. Policymakers and advocates cannot afford to continue making the same policy development decisions that fail to consider the voices and unique needs of those impacted the most.

Targeted universalism is a framework designed to achieve universal goals by developing targeted policy solutions that are unique to the needs of different people. This framework is especially useful in the effort to improve the health and well-being of moms and babies – an effort that requires a diverse set of stakeholders. This one-pager describes the step-by-step process to developing new policies while considering the needs of each community.