The Rory Staunton Foundation is proud to announce the launch of a ground-breaking new initiative to combat maternal sepsis, a leading cause of pregnancy-related death in the United States.

The initiative is funded in part with Federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services; Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness Response Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) Division of Research, Innovation, and Ventures (DRIVe). BARDA DRIVe seeks to leverage public-private partnerships to address pressing health security challenges.

Why Maternal Sepsis?
We have made it our mission to end preventable deaths from sepsis–including for new and expectant mothers. No woman should die as a result of pregnancy and birth–and no baby should be left motherless.

The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world, despite spending more than any other country on hospital-based maternity care.(1) It is the only developed country where mortality rates are rising rather than falling. Over the past two decades, the rate of pregnancy-related deaths in the US has doubled, with black women three times more likely to die of pregnancy-related issues than white women. (2) According to the CDC, the majority of these deaths are preventable. (3)

Maternal Sepsis is the third leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States and globally; nearly a quarter of all pregnancy-related deaths are sepsis related with studies showing that the rates of maternal sepsis are increasing. (4)

Learn more about the project on our Maternal Sepsis Campaign webpage