Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,

where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges.

If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jh.h.edu.

That's public health question at jhhu.edu for future podcast episodes.

This is Lindsay Smith Rogers.

Dyer statistics about birth outcomes for black women in America have become front-page news in recent years.

But this problem isn't new. In fact, it has roots in the very fabric of American society and health care,

with structural and systemic racism at its core.

In a new episode of Public Health in the Field, Dr. Rachel Berval, an MPH student at the Bloomberg

School, and producer Annalise Winnie explore the foundations of this crisis.

What exactly is the Black Maternal Health Crisis and why are we just now talking about

this longstanding issue?

Also, stay tuned because we'll also have two more episodes coming out in May that look at how the crisis can be solved,

from the important work already being done and the big gaps that still need to be filled in legislation,

in hospitals and doctors offices, and in communities, and at home.

For now, let's listen.

Hi, I'm Rachel Berval.

I'm a physician, an MPH candidate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

And I'm Annalise Winnie, Associate Editor of Global Health Now and producer of public health in the field.

This is Black Maternal Health Week, which annually for the past six years, has encouraged activism

and deepened public awareness around a major crisis in the United States.

Celebrities, activists, and doctors came together to address the Black maternal health crisis.

...