A new policy brief from the AAMC Center for Health Justice analyzes CDC data to explore racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic inequities in access to paid leave and its relationship to postpartum mental health. The brief, Paid Leave: A Health Justice Imperative for Maternal Mental Health, adds to the growing body of evidence that paid leave after the birth of a child is associated with improved maternal health.
The U.S. is the only high-income country that has not enacted a national paid family leave program and is facing an unprecedented increase in the number of pregnancy-related deaths and adverse postpartum physical and mental health conditions. The policy brief calls for a national paid leave program, which would likely narrow unjust and avoidable racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic inequities in maternal morbidity while benefitting all birthing people.
Please see the brief here:
https://www.aamchealthjustice.org/news/policy/paid-leave------------------------------
Carla Alvarado
Director of Research CHJ
Association of American Medical Colleges
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