America rightly celebrates and invests in medical breakthroughs like cancer therapies and artificial intelligence diagnostics. Yet research and development in reproductive and maternal health still struggles to gain the same vital support.
This funding gap directly contributes to the country’s maternal mortality rate, which remains the highest among wealthy nations, and the consequences are especially severe in the South.
The Gates Foundation’s recent $2.5 billion pledge to women’s health research is a significant step for global research and development. By comparison, the U.S. federal government spent just over $1 billion on maternal and reproductive health research in 2023.
Philanthropic funding is even smaller: Less than 2 percent of U.S. foundation health giving supports these areas, and most of that goes to direct services, not research.
The gap is stark. America is simply not investing at the level the crisis demands. Despite access to promising technologies, maternal deaths in America are still rising, especially in regions facing provider shortages.
Innovative tools can dramatically reduce maternal deaths. These include devices that monitor vital signs and detect early signs of preeclampsia, a leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths. AI-powered tests can predict complications before they become severe, and digital mental health platforms help identify and manage postpartum depression.
Yet, these advances often remain stuck in small pilot programs due to insufficient funding and complicated rules for approval. Federal funding for reproductive and maternal health research and development has barely grown in decades.
Some argue that technology cannot solve challenges like poverty, racism or gaps in rural care. These issues do require long-term reform. However, innovation is essential precisely because the current system is failing. Tools like early-warning tests and telemedicine can help providers deliver better care now, even within a flawed system.
There are proven medicines that can help prevent early labor, telehealth programs that connect rural mothers to specialists and models of care tailored for Black and Indigenous communities. However, these solutions are not available everywhere, and too often remain out of reach for those who need them most because of politics and limited public investment.
The South feels these consequences most. States such as Mississippi, Texas and Georgia have some of the nation’s highest maternal death rates, largely because of provider shortages, maternity unit closures, and limited access to care.
At the same time, local innovators struggle to secure crucial funding and must navigate complex regulations. Community-based maternal health providers face limited reimbursement, heavy administrative burdens and restrictive state policies — barriers that stifle new approaches and prevent proven solutions from reaching the families who need them most.
To improve America’s maternal health crisis, Congress and federal agencies must make research and development for mothers a top priority. That means investing at the level we see for diseases like cancer or heart disease and streamlining the path for new solutions.
Too often, even proven maternal health solutions stall because there’s no straightforward way for doctors and hospitals to get them covered. Congress and federal agencies should ensure that practical lifesaving tools receive the billing codes and payment approvals they need, so families aren’t left waiting for care that could save lives.
Progress remains slow, in part, because maternal health lacks the industry muscle and lobbying power that drive action in other areas of medicine. Until Congress and federal agencies make this a clear priority, maternal health innovation will continue to be overlooked.
Maternal health research and development is a moral and economic necessity. Every year of delay means more families lose loved ones to preventable tragedy, and more communities are left behind.
We know what works and what’s needed. Now it’s time for leaders to act.
Kavelle Christie has been a health care policy strategist for more than a decade and serves as director of the Center for Regulatory Policy and Health Innovation, an initiative focused on health care financing, maternal health innovation, and regulatory policy.
