Youngkin reestablishes Maternal Health Task Force while Virginia’s infant mortality rate above national average

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin is making a push to support pregnant mothers and their children by reestablishing a task force that he says will evaluate maternal health data to help improve health outcomes for new mothers and their children.

Youngkin’s Executive Order 32 comes as recent data from the March of Dimes shows Virginia’s infant mortality rate, defined as the number of children who died before reaching their first birthday, was higher than the national average.

“We struggle with access,” Dr. Arthur Ollendorff with the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine said about maternal healthcare in Virginia. “There are many maternity deserts within Virginia, especially in Southwest Virginia, where there are only about four or five delivering hospitals and many counties don’t have delivering hospitals.”

Ollendorff says drivers of the Commonwealth’s high infant mortality rate include mothers with chronic medical conditions, as well as those struggling with substance use disorders.

“How do we support women, mostly in the post-partum period, who struggle with substance use disorder and their addiction turns to overdose and that turns to death, and obviously families are very affected by that with a newborn at home. And who is caring for those newborns?” Ollendorff said.

Dr. Christine Isaacs with VCU Health says improving outcomes starts with education. She says mothers should be focused on their mental and physical health in the years before deciding to have kids.

“Everything from vaccinations to reproductive choices to timing to health and nutrition to exercise, these are all things that are a longitude journey that we want to make with our communities, so that when we are in our childbearing years, we can really be in our prime,” Isaacs said.

The task force will be responsible for delivering recommendations to Youngkin and the General Assembly by December 1 for lawmakers to consider during next year’s General Assembly session.

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