And now it is time to hear from one of the advocates whose work goes on, even when it is no longer news. Tiffany McKever is a digital healthcare strategist, whose work has included researching and developing a Population Health Initiative with a focus on environmental factors related to social determinants of health (SDOH) resulting in significant impacts to healthcare cost access and quality in large urban cities. We turn to her to update us on the state of maternal mortality across the US, as part of our ongoing coverage of this issue (see https://www.fiftyfaceshub.com/category/medicine-and-science/ for other podcasts relating to the topic).

In this part 1 of the series we will explore the problem, through storytelling, on the ground insights and lived experience. We hear from Maneesha Ghiya, the founder of FemHealth Ventures about her own birth experience that prompted a career-long devotion to women’s health issues, as well as Yele Aluko, EY Americas Chief Medical Officer, director of the EY Center for Health Equity, Adonica Shaw, CEO and Founder of My Wing Women, an online community and resource center for women relating to reproductive and other health issues. Maura Rosenfeld, founder of digital health innovator – MindUp, provides her insights on the innovations and technology that can move the needle in alleviating this problem. 

In this part three we look around the world to compare the nature of the problem  – hearing from Yele Aluko about his experience in Africa, while Noa Hirsch, an experienced health care director, nurse and business based in Israel shares not only her insights from the ground and from other kinds of disparities on the ground in a much more densely populated country as well as from technology solutions that are in development to chip away at persistent problems in this domain. 

In part two we explore solutions to the problem, returning to our discussion with Yele Aluko to discuss some of the investments in alleviating inequity in the US medical landscape, and where disparities persist. Adonica Shaw then details the importance of community, shared experience, resources and education – all of which she is amplifying through My Wing Women.