内容摘要：Health officials like Hernández say they’re concerned in particular for vulnerable populations including Indigenous groups, many of whom have fewer resources to cope.

Health officials like Hernández say they’re concerned in particular for vulnerable populations including Indigenous groups, many of whom have fewer resources to cope.

“I consider maternal health to be in a state of emergency here,” said Joseph, a British immigrant. “It’s more than frustrating. It’s criminal.”The Biden administration,

in this election year, acknowledges the U.S. has one of the highest rates of any wealthy nation — hovering around 20 per 100,000 live births overall and 50 for Black moms, according to the World Health Organization and U.S. health officials. Several European countries have rates in the single digits.shows the vast majority of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable. Public health expertson a range of problems, such as inequities in getting needed health care, systemic racism, at times poor-quality medical care and a rise in chronic health conditions among women of childbearing age.

Solutions abroad can be translated to the U.S., experts believe. For example, many European countries make it easier to get prenatal and postpartum care that involves both doctors and non-physicians like midwives, said Dr. Laurie Zephyrin, a senior vice president at the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund who studies maternal care across nations.Marie Jean Denis, left, is examined by Jennie Joseph, lead midwife and clinic director at the Commonsense Childbirth clinic. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Marie Jean Denis, left, is examined by Jennie Joseph, lead midwife and clinic director at the Commonsense Childbirth clinic. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Joseph’s organization — called Commonsense Childbirth — is a smaller-scale example of that type of care.Julia Bagan, who is part of a Facebook group called Southern California Equine Emergency Evacuation, found five horses locked in their stalls in Altadena one day after the fire. The horses huddled in a small exterior pen attached to the stalls but couldn’t entirely escape the flames.

By the time a neighbor called for help and firefighters used bolt cutters to free them, one of the horses was badly hurt, Bagan said.She drove through the remnants of the fire Wednesday night to rescue them as damaged power lines sparked overhead. She described it as “the most crazy, dangerous” evacuation she’s had yet. Almost all the houses in the area had burned when she pulled up.

The injured horse, a 3-year-old black mare she decided to name after the movie Flicka, had leg burns. Her halter burned off, along with her tail and mane. The embers gave her eyes ulcers.A veterinarian at an emergency equine hospital gave the horse 50-50 odds of surviving.