Prince George’s County health leaders urge focused action on maternal disparities, cite $250,000 for Black maternal health

Prince George’s County health department leaders told the County Council, sitting as the Board of Health, that maternal and infant health disparities remain urgent and described a set of programmatic steps and policy priorities to address them.

"Maternal health has been one of the biggest issues that we've had in the county and the state. We have a high infant mortality rate for being a county with as much wealth as we have," Council member Begay said, opening the briefing and urging the council to focus resources on prenatal and postpartum care.

The health department presentation reviewed epidemiology, county programs and near‑term priorities. Officials reported that, based on 2016–2020 vital statistics, Prince George’s County ranked third in the state for pregnancy‑related deaths (11 over that five‑year period) and third for pregnancy‑associated deaths, behind Baltimore City and Baltimore County. Health presenters noted that more recent data (2023) are delayed and that state and local systems will be used to produce updated counts.

Health department staff described the scope of current services: the Reproductive Health and Resource Center (RHRC) averages roughly 2,000 family‑planning visits per year (FY23–FY25) and identified 72 newly pregnant clients last year; long‑acting reversible contraceptive placements declined from 133 in FY23 to 53 in FY25. The Healthy Beginnings case‑management program for infants (birth–age 1) had roughly 600–650 referrals annually and…