Director of the DC Health Department will give the keynote address
WHAT:
On April 8, 2019, the National Institutes of Health will host a community engagement forum on improving health outcomes for pregnant women. Participants will include representatives from healthcare and community organizations who will discuss strategies for addressing the increasing rates of maternal death in the United States. LaQuandra Nesbitt, M.D., director of the District of Columbia Department of Health, will give the keynote address.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 700 women die each year in the United States as a result of pregnancy or delivery complications. Death rates are highest among African American women and women who are of advanced maternal age (more than 35 years old).
The forum is open to members of the news media. The event is free, but registration is required. For more information, please visit the forum website. For those who cannot attend in-person, a Facebook Live discussion will be held at 1:40 p.m. ET during the event.
The forum is being organized by the Office of Health Equity in NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). NICHD conducts and supports research on preeclampsia, postpartum hemorrhage, infection, and other life-threatening complications of pregnancy and childbirth.
WHO:
Diana W. Bianchi, M.D., NICHD Director, is available for comment.
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About the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD): NICHD conducts and supports research in the United States and throughout the world on fetal, infant and child development; maternal, child and family health; reproductive biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation. For more information, visit NICHD’s website.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.
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