Governor Newsom Proclaims Strong Start and Beyond Day as State Launches New Maternal Health Initiative

SACRAMENTO - Governor Gavin Newsom today proclaimed Strong Start & Beyond Day as the state launches a new effort to improve reproductive and maternal health in collaboration with community, public and private partners. 

California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom is joining California Surgeon General Dr. Diana E. Ramos, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and others today to announce the effort and release the California Maternal Health Blueprint. This framework will help guide outreach, education and other strategies with the goal of reducing California’s maternal mortality rate by 50%.

More information on Strong Start & Beyond can be found here.

PROCLAMATION

Across the nation, individuals and families are deeply affected by maternal health disparities that too often result in tragedy. California has the lowest maternal mortality rate in the nation, but our work is far from over - on average, a new mother loses her life due to a pregnancy-related complication every five days in our state. This heartbreaking reality is even more pronounced for Black women, who are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes. And for years, Hispanic and Asian American and Pacific Islander communities have been facing increasing maternal mortality rates.

When more than 80% of maternal deaths are preventable, these statistics are simply unacceptable, and more than just numbers - they are a call to action. California has made important progress in this space, including the landmark Momnibus Act to sharpen our focus on racial and socio-economic factors impacting maternal health, adding Medi-Cal coverage for doulas, extending Medi-Cal eligibility for postpartum individuals, easing access to CalWORKs for pregnant people, and requiring perinatal health care providers to undergo implicit bias training. But we can and must do more.

Today, the state is advancing our commitment to reproductive and maternal health with the launch of Strong Start & Beyond, a collaborative initiative led by the California Surgeon General to leverage the state’s investments and partnerships to improve maternal health outcomes. Guided by the newly released California Maternal Health Blueprint, this effort aims to educate and empower individuals on reproductive health issues, and to reduce California’s maternal mortality rate by 50%.  

California will continue at the forefront of tackling this crisis, working urgently to improve maternal health across the state. Together with our many partners, we can help families and their newborns have a strong start and healthy future – strengthening communities and California as a whole.

NOW THEREFORE I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim September 17, 2024, as “Strong Start & Beyond Day.”

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 17^th day of September 2024

GAVIN NEWSOM
Governor of California

ATTEST:

SHIRLEY N. WEBER, Ph.D.
Secretary of State