Maternal deaths went up 40% nationwide in 2021. The rate also went up in Alaska, which reported 20 deaths that year amid latent effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than half of Alaska’s 2021 maternal deaths occurred in Southwestern Alaska. Alaska has its own way of measuring maternal mortality, so comparisons to national rates are tricky. But in 2021, Alaska reported its highest number of pregnancy-associated deaths in the last decade — more than double the most recent five-year average.
Ness Verigin leads the Maternal Child Death Review program for the state. They called the increase a call to arms. “We had a tragic number of maternal deaths and pregnancy associated deaths during that year,” Verigin said.The Maternal Child Death Review looks at deaths that happen from the start of pregnancy until one year after a pregnancy ends. Verigin says that in Alaska, most of these deaths don’t happen during labor. Instead, they happen because of violence afterwards.
There’s another factor that may have influenced the spike in maternal mortality in 2021: the COVID-19 pandemic. During Alaska’s delta wave, state physicians spoke out about how overcrowding and rationed care at hospitals had a
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