SBanda

I am an undergraduate student at Rice University, and am currently enrolled in the class Human Development in Local and Global Communities. I am an aspiring physician majoring in Biochemistry and minoring in Poverty, Justice, and Human Capabilities. My interests lie at the intersection of medicine, public health, and social justice. Through the Human Development Class this semester, I strive to understand the factors limiting individual agency, and how national decisions influence individual agency. In the future, I would like to utilize this knowledge to reduce health disparities and resource-based mortality internationally.

Why Maternal Health in Texas?

The state of maternal health in Texas has often been compared to that of a “third world” country. While pages have been devoted to maternal health in these developing nations (ie. Ethiopia, Angola, Rwanda, etc), there is no Wikipedia article discussing why Texas’s maternal deaths are comparative to those in developing countries.

Maternal health is a notable topic as it leads to a better understanding of how to avert maternal death, understand related health conditions in women, improve child health, and observe trends in healthcare for other populations. The issue of high maternal death in Texas is a topic that frequently appears on news outlets and media sources, and the factors leading to this situation continue to be debated. 

I have contemplated revising the general article “Maternal Health,” but I believe this would not be as informative and effective as discussing a case-specific trend that is urgently in need of attention and worthy of bringing to the public’s general knowledge, with a hope of stirring interest as well as action. While maternal healthcare in Texas is a topic of much discussion on news and media outlets, there is a collection of unorganized and unfiltered information that would be of better use to the public if presented coherently.

This new article “Maternal Health in Texas” would thus provide readers with the data and content that would allow them to understand health care policy and services and potential factors contributing to the excessive number of maternal deaths in the state.