Does race figure in maternal and infant death?On February 20,
2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), agency of the U.S. Public
Health Service since 1973, with headquarters in Atlanta; it was
established in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center. issued a
press release stating that black women are four times more
likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth than white women.
During the nine-year study period, the pregnancy-related
mortality ratio for black women was 30.0 deaths per 100,000 live
births, compared to 8.1 for white women. Pregnancy-related
mortality has the largest racial disparity of any maternal and
child health indicators, persisting for more than 60 years. The
pregnancy-related mortality ratio for all women was 11.8 deaths
per 100,000 live births, which is well above the nation's
Healthy People 2010 goal of no more than 3.3 maternal deaths per
100,000 live births. In terms of maternal mortality, the United
States ranks fourteenth a