U.S. — The organization plans to fund care improvements by focusing on states, with an emphasis on improving data collection and accelerating hospitals' reporting of deaths as a central pillar of the effort. Olivia Walton, founder of the group, said in an interview that for millions of moms in America, maternal health is bad and getting worse.

Walton said in an interview, "There’s just so much bipartisan consensus around wanting to fix this. I really think the political will is there and part of our job is to help surface that with an information campaign." She said, "Taking on risk and going first is a great use of philanthropic capital. The goal is to prove that this works and then have state funding take it over."

Neel Shah, President of the organization, said in an interview that the biggest cause of suffering is not a lack of knowledge but a lack of execution on that knowledge. He said maternal mortality is "eminently solvable," characterizing the current situation as a matter of will rather than medical capability.

The initiative is a five-year commitment that aims to cut the U.S. maternal mortality rate by half. It will focus on expanding access to maternal health in rural areas, training midwives, expanding postpartum care, and helping states use strategies that have proved successful. California reduced its maternal mortality rate by half by combining strategies with investments, serving as a model for the approach. New Jersey previously ranked 47th among states in maternal mortality but improved its outcomes by focusing on the cities where the needs are greatest.

About 40% of births in the U.S. are paid for by Medicaid. The most recent state-level data on maternal mortality is from 2022, creating a gap in timely information that the new initiative seeks to address. Walton said, "You can't fix what you can't measure."

Walton said, "I’ve got blue-state solutions of what works, red-state solutions of what works, and purple-state solutions of what works. It’s really possible." She lives in Arkansas with her husband Tom, who is the grandson of Walmart founder Sam Walton. A March of Dimes report stated that half of Arkansas's 75 counties are maternity care deserts.

Walton said, "I’m a mom myself and I just had three kids in the last eight years. I live in a state with the worst maternal mortality in the country." She said she has an overarching belief that if you take care of mom, she’ll take care of everything else. Healthy families lead to healthy communities. Healthy communities lead to a healthy economy. In a news release, she stated that America should be the safest place in the world to have a baby and that the evidence and solutions exist.

Sen. Cory Booker estimated the annual economic cost of poor maternal health outcomes at $165 billion. The U.S. has one of the highest maternal mortality rates among wealthy nations, with the rate recorded at 18.6 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023.

Why It Matters

Nearly 86% of maternal deaths are preventable, according to the CDC. The U.S. maternal mortality rate was 19 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2024. This persistent rate affects a portion of the population, particularly given that Medicaid covers about 40% of births.

The initiative spans five years, aiming to leverage private capital to de-risk solutions for state adoption. By focusing on state-level implementation and bipartisan policy support, the organization seeks to create a sustainable model for reducing maternal deaths. The involvement of philanthropists like Olivia and Tom Walton brings resources to bear on a problem that has seen limited progress despite available interventions.

Timeline

The most recent state-level data on maternal mortality is from 2022. The U.S. maternal mortality rate was 18.6 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023.

What's New

Robin Reck, executive director of Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies America, called the Waltons’ commitment “perhaps the single largest private investment ever made” to cut the nation’s maternal mortality rate. She said in a news release, "America should be the safest place in the world to have a baby. We have the evidence and we have the solutions. Now we need the urgency and investment to make them available to every mom, across the country." Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies America is building a bipartisan campaign focused on solutions including expanding access to maternal health in rural areas through telehealth and expanding the maternal health workforce.

Robin Reck said in a statement, "We are not aiming for incremental progress. We are aiming to cut the maternal mortality rate in half in five years, and as of today we have the team, the partners, and the runway to do it."

How Sources Differ

Sources differ on the specific figure for the maternal mortality rate. Sources also differ on details regarding Babies America.

The Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies America press release states that Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies America announced a $100 million pledge to make giving birth in the U.S. safer.