Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Abuja in Nigeria have received grants to work with community organizations in St. Louis and Abuja to improve cardiovascular health during and after pregnancy. Both projects are partnering with Parents as Teachers, a national organization that has long provided support to young families through home visits.
The United States and Nigeria may be an ocean apart, but each has distressingly high rates of infant and maternal death in the year following childbirth. In 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated the U.S. maternal mortality rate to be nearly 33 deaths per 100,000 births — about 10 times higher than such rates in several other high-income counties. And in Nigeria, it’s much worse: According to the World Health Organization, the rate is more than 530 deaths per 100,000 births.
To reduce these numbers and save lives, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Abuja in Abuja, Nigeria, have received grants to work with community organizations in St. Louis and Abuja, with both projects partnering with Parents as Teachers, a national organization in the U.S. that has long provided support to young families through home visits. Building on the existing home-visiting model, the goal of these programs is to improve cardiovascular health for the mother during pregnancy and for the entire family following delivery. The funds, from two grants totaling $9 million, are from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).