News

U.S. News & World Report has again recognized St. Louis Children’s Hospital and its physician partners at WashU Medicine among America’s Best Children’s Hospitals, ranking St. Louis Children’s No. 1 in Missouri, No. 1 in St. Louis, and No. 3 in the Midwest region.

An all-inclusive approach across health providers and communities can help address the disparity in Black maternal mortality rates.

Think of the word “infertility,” and you might picture a couple without children struggling to get pregnant or stay pregnant. But there is another set of people — those who have successfully conceived and given birth to one or more children — who struggle with infertility, too.

Black maternal morbidity and mortality rates in the United States have reached alarming levels, revealing a profound and systemic disparity in health care outcomes. Nationally, Black women are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The statistics are devastating: Sudden unexpected infant death is the No. 1 cause of death in babies age 29 days to 1 year old.

Some sisters imagine what it might be like to have and raise their kids close together. Few, however, get to experience giving birth to their babies on the exact same day, at the same hospital, delivered by the same doctor. It sounds like a fictionalized movie storyline. But for two St. Louis sisters, this was their reality.