Strengthening maternal health starts after families leave the hospital

More than 80 percent of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. are considered preventable. And they all happen after the hospital stay.

That number should stop us cold. It should demand an explanation, because we know how to prevent many of these deaths. But we have not consistently made the kinds of supports needed to do so widely available.

In April, the field took one meaningful step toward changing that with the Health Resource and Service Administration’s release of the National Home Visiting Workforce Strategy. It’s a roadmap for building the professional infrastructure that could reach millions of mothers who currently receive no support during the most medically dangerous weeks of their lives. It reflects growing recognition that supporting families after birth requires more than clinical care alone.

The reason we need a program like this is straightforward. Most mothers leave the hospital within 48 hours of giving birth. That is often just when the hardest weeks begin, and families are left to manage the transition largely on their own.

Sleep disappears. Hormones shift. Medical care splinters into separate tracks, with one clinician responsible for the baby and another for the mother. Follow-up visits may be weeks away. Partners and fathers are navigating their own transition at the same time. An entire family is adjusting to a new rhythm that includes feeding challenges, mental health changes and physical recovery, largely on their own.

But imagine something different: A trained professional knocks on the door. She sits at the kitchen table while the baby sleeps nearby. She........

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