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Q&A: Harvard public health dean talks Medicaid expansion and heartbreaking mortality rates of Delta mothers

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Q&A: Harvard public health dean talks Medicaid expansion and heartbreaking mortality rates of Delta mothers

Michelle Williams, a renowned epidemiologist and dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, caught up with health editor Kate Royals following the state Legislature’s decision to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage.

Harvard University’s School of Public Health has an active program focused on the maternal mortality rate in the Mississippi Delta. Williams has also paid close attention to Mississippi’s debate over Medicaid expansion.

While Williams says she is heartened by Gov. Tate Reeves’ decision to extend postpartum coverage, the esteemed public health expert says the new law doesn’t go far enough.

Kate Royals: Tell me about the school’s work in the Mississippi Delta.

Michelle Williams: We have a long history of collaborating on research and education in the Delta, in partnership with state officials, community health centers and local colleges, including Mississippi State and the University of Mississippi.

When you talk about health in Mississippi, the focus is often on the dire statistics, such as sky-high infant and maternal mortality. But it’s important to know that the state has a history of truly important innovation. For instance, the first community health centers sprang up in Mississippi — an outgrowth of the civil rights movement. Our collaborations aim to build on and nurture those innovations.

We gather regularly with our partners to discuss and develop health care programs. We work together on research grants, too. As one example, we would love to secure funding to enable state health officials to make regular home visits to new moms in the Mississippi Delta; we would then evaluate the impact of the program and widely disseminate lessons learned.

Finally, we organize academic exchanges so students in Mississippi spend time at Harvard and vice versa, with opportunities to get involved in research and community projects. I recently talked to one of our (master’s of Public Health) students who is in Clarksdale for her fieldwork practicum, working with a program called “Baby University” that teaches new parents about early childhood development and gives them tips for supporting their babies’ growth.

Royals: You have cited some pretty startling statistics about outcomes for mothers – particularly Black mothers – in Mississippi compared to other countries. What were those?

Williams: I’m glad you asked, because I think these are statistics that every policy maker – and every citizen – should know.

For Black women in Mississippi, the mortality rate is 65.1 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to the state Department of Health.

That’s a horrifying number. To put it in context, Black women in Mississippi are nearly 20 times more likely to die from complications of pregnancy or childbirth than women in Greece, Poland, or Slovenia. They’re nearly 8 times more likely to die than women in Turkey.

The mortality rate for white women in Mississippi is lower, at 16.2 deaths per 100,0000 live births, but that is still far above the U.S. average. They are at least three times more likely to die from complications of pregnancy or childbirth than women in the UK or Canada.

Each of those deaths is a tragedy with long-lasting effects: Too many young, promising lives cut short; too many children who grow up without the love and support of their mothers; too many families who struggle with grief for the rest of their lives.

It is heartbreaking but it is also, quite frankly, infuriating. We know why maternal mortality rates are so high among Black women. They are high because of the devastating impacts of structural racism and individual bias, including lack of access to appropriate care. That we allow this to continue to happen, in the wealthiest country in the world, is unforgivable.

Royals: What do you believe, from your research and experience, will be the benefits of extending the health care coverage of mothers on Medicaid for women and babies in Mississippi?

Williams: We know from state data that 42.5% of pregnancy-related maternal deaths in Mississippi occur between 60 days and a year after childbirth. That’s the precise period that would be covered by the Medicaid expansion bill now on the governor’s desk.

I am certain that having access to care in this period will save lives. Remaining on Medicaid will give new mothers … access to mental health care, which is critically important for not only a mother’s health but also the health of her children. It will also allow women to get care for chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. That’s important because cardiovascular conditions are the most common cause of pregnancy-related maternal deaths in the state.

There are many other benefits as well. Extending Medicaid coverage should help more young mothers get … screened for cancer. This is crucial because Mississippi has among the highest mortality rates in the nation for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer, all of which can often be treated successfully if detected early.

The bill should also help new mothers get access to contraception to help them control the spacing of future pregnancies. Given that abortion is now banned in Mississippi, with very limited exceptions, access to effective birth control is critical.

Finally, I want to emphasize what I mentioned earlier: Extending Medicaid will improve the odds not only for the mom, but for the newborn – and for any other children in the family. This generational effect is particularly important in Mississippi, which has long had the highest infant mortality rate in the U.S.

As every parent knows, the first year of a child’s life is wondrous, but it can also be tiring, isolating, and stressful. Parents are better equipped to navigate those stresses and support their children through this crucial phase of development if they have access to the care they need to keep themselves healthy.

Royals: I understand you applaud Mississippi for passing extended postpartum coverage but maintain there’s much more to be done. Can you say more about that, and how Medicaid expansion factors in?

Williams: Absolutely. That’s a great question.

The extension is critical for all the reasons I mentioned above. But the state could – and should – enact the full Medicaid expansion allowed under the Affordable Care Act. So far, I believe 39 states plus D.C. have taken advantage of this provision to extend Medicaid to nearly all adults with income up to a certain level, typically about $20,000 a year for a single person. That would cover not just new mothers, but all adults who meet the income guidelines.

One particular group that would benefit is young women who are not yet pregnant but might conceive in the near future. It would give them access to the care they needed to get chronic diseases like hypertension and diabetes under control. That could be a game changer in reducing maternal mortality.

And of course, Medicaid is not the only way to protect public health.

I firmly believe that Mississippi must restore physicians’ freedom to deliver the full range of health care for every resident, including gender-affirming care and abortion. State policy makers must also address the environmental factors that threaten health and well-being. That includes the unconscionable water crisis in Jackson, air pollution in Pascagoula, and the lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables in “food deserts” across the state.

Williams cited the following articles in her responses:

Health Status : Maternal and infant mortality

Mississippi State Plan for Comprehensive Cancer Control 2018-2022

A Mississippi community is ‘grateful’ for more air testing, but skeptical of what comes next | WWNO

Food Deserts in Mississippi

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi River flooding Vicksburg, expected to crest on Monday

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mississippitoday.org – @alxrzr – 2025-04-25 16:04:00

Warren County Emergency Management Director John Elfer said Friday floodwaters from the Mississippi River, which have reached homes in and around Vicksburg, will likely persist until early May. Elfer estimated there areabout 15 to 20 roads underwater in the area.

A truck sits in high water after the owner parked, then boated to his residence on Chickasaw Road in Vicksburg as a rising Mississippi River causes backwater flooding, Friday, April 25, 2025.

“We’re about half a foot (on the river gauge) from a major flood,” he said. “But we don’t think it’s going to be like in 2011, so we can kind of manage this.”

The National Weather projects the river to crest at 49.5 feet on Monday, making it the highest peak at the Vicksburg gauge since 2020. Elfer said some residents in north Vicksburg — including at the Ford Subdivision as well as near Chickasaw Road and Hutson Street — are having to take boats to get home, adding that those who live on the unprotected side of the levee are generally prepared for flooding.

A rising Mississippi River causing backwater flooding near Chickasaw Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.
Old tires aligned a backyard as a deterrent to rising water north of Vicksburg along U.S. 61, Friday, April 25, 2025.
As the Mississippi River rises, backwater flooding creeps towards a home located on Falk Steel Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

“There are a few (inundated homes), but we’ve mitigated a lot of them,” he said. “Some of the structures have been torn down or raised. There are a few people that still live on the wet side of the levee, but they kind of know what to expect. So we’re not too concerned with that.”

The river first reached flood stage in the city — 43 feet — on April 14. State officials closed Highway 465, which connects the Eagle Lake community just north of Vicksburg to Highway 61, last Friday.

Flood waters along Kings Point Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

Elfer said the areas impacted are mostly residential and he didn’t believe any businesses have been affected, emphasizing that downtown Vicksburg is still safe for visitors. He said Warren County has worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency to secure pumps and barriers.

“Everybody thus far has been very cooperative,” he said. “We continue to tell people stay out of the flood areas, don’t drive around barricades and don’t drive around road close signs. Not only is it illegal, it’s dangerous.”

NWS projects the river to stay at flood stage in Vicksburg until May 6. The river reached its record crest of 57.1 feet in 2011.

The boat launch area is closed and shored up on Levee Street in Vicksburg as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
The boat launch area (right) is closed and under water on Levee Street in Vicksburg as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
City of Vicksburg workers shore up the bank along Levee Street as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
The old pedestrian bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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With domestic violence law, victims ‘will be a number with a purpose,’ mother says

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mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-04-25 15:07:00

Joslin Napier. Carlos Collins. Bailey Mae Reed. 

They are among Mississippi domestic violence homicide victims whose family members carried their photos as the governor signed a bill that will establish a board to study such deaths and how to prevent them. 

Tara Gandy, who lost her daughter Napier in Waynesboro in 2022, said it’s a moment she plans to tell her 5-year-old grandson about when he is old enough. Napier’s presence, in spirit, at the bill signing can be another way for her grandson to feel proud of his mother. 

“(The board) will allow for my daughter and those who have already lost their lives to domestic violence … to no longer be just a number,” Gandy said. “They will be a number with a purpose.” 

Family members at the April 15 private bill signing included Ashla Hudson, whose son Collins, died last year in Jackson. Grandparents Mary and Charles Reed and brother Colby Kernell attended the event in honor of Bailey Mae Reed, who died in Oxford in 2023. 

Joining them were staff and board members from the Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the statewide group that supports shelters and advocated for the passage of Senate Bill 2886 to form a Domestic Violence Facility Review Board. 

The law will go into effect July 1, and the coalition hopes to partner with elected officials who will make recommendations for members to serve on the board. The coalition wants to see appointees who have frontline experience with domestic violence survivors, said Luis Montgomery, public policy specialist for the coalition. 

A spokesperson from Gov. Tate Reeves’ office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Establishment of the board would make Mississippi the 45th state to review domestic violence fatalities. 

Montgomery has worked on passing a review board bill since December 2023. After an unsuccessful effort in 2024, the coalition worked to build support and educate people about the need for such a board. 

In the recent legislative session, there were House and Senate versions of the bill that unanimously passed their respective chambers. Authors of the bills are from both political parties. 

The review board is tasked with reviewing a variety of documents to learn about the lead up and circumstances in which people died in domestic violence-related fatalities, near fatalities and suicides – records that can include police records, court documents, medical records and more. 

From each review, trends will emerge and that information can be used for the board to make recommendations to lawmakers about how to prevent domestic violence deaths. 

“This is coming at a really great time because we can really get proactive,” Montgomery said. 

Without a board and data collection, advocates say it is difficult to know how many people have died or been injured in domestic-violence related incidents.

A Mississippi Today analysis found at least 300 people, including victims, abusers and collateral victims, died from domestic violence between 2020 and 2024. That analysis came from reviewing local news stories, the Gun Violence Archive, the National Gun Violence Memorial, law enforcement reports and court documents. 

Some recent cases the board could review are the deaths of Collins, Napier and Reed. 

In court records, prosecutors wrote that Napier, 24, faced increased violence after ending a relationship with Chance Fabian Jones. She took action, including purchasing a firearm and filing for a protective order against Jones.

Jones’s trial is set for May 12 in Wayne County. His indictment for capital murder came on the first anniversary of her death, according to court records. 

Collins, 25, worked as a nurse and was from Yazoo City. His ex-boyfriend Marcus Johnson has been indicted for capital murder and shooting into Collins’ apartment. Family members say Collins had filed several restraining orders against Johnson. 

Johnson was denied bond and remains in jail. His trial is scheduled for July 28 in Hinds County.  

He was a Jackson police officer for eight months in 2013. Johnson was separated from the department pending disciplinary action leading up to immediate termination, but he resigned before he was fired, Jackson police confirmed to local media. 

Reed, 21, was born and raised in Michigan and moved to Water Valley to live with her grandparents and help care for her cousin, according to her obituary. 

Kylan Jacques Phillips was charged with first degree murder for beating Reed, according to court records. In February, the court ordered him to undergo a mental evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand trial, according to court documents. 

At the bill signing, Gandy said it was bittersweet and an honor to meet the families of other domestic violence homicide victims.

“We were there knowing we are not alone, we can travel this road together and hopefully find ways to prevent and bring more awareness about domestic violence,” she said.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Court to rule on DeSoto County Senate districts with special elections looming

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mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-04-25 15:06:00

A federal three-judge panel will rule in coming days on how political power in northwest Mississippi will be allocated in the state Senate and whether any incumbents in the DeSoto County area might have to campaign against each other in November special elections.  

The panel, comprised of all George W. Bush-appointed judges, ordered state officials last week to, again, craft a new Senate map for the area in the suburbs of Memphis. The panel has held that none of the state’s prior maps gave Black voters a realistic chance to elect candidates of their choice. 

The latest map proposed by the all-Republican State Board of Election Commissioners tweaked only four Senate districts in northwest Mississippi and does not pit any incumbent senators against each other. 

The state’s proposal would keep the Senate districts currently held by Sen. Michael McLendon, a Republican from Hernando and Sen. Kevin Blackwell, a Republican from Southaven, in majority-white districts. 

But it makes Sen. David Parker’s district a slightly majority-Black district. Parker, a white Republican from Olive Branch, would run in a district with a 50.1% black voting-age population, according to court documents. 

The proposal also maintains the district held by Sen. Reginald Jackson, a Democrat from Marks, as a majority-Black district, although it reduces the Black voting age population from 61% to 53%.  

Gov. Tate Reeves, Secretary of State Michael Watson, and Attorney General Lynn Fitch comprise the State Board of Election Commissioners. Reeves and Watson voted to approve the plan. But Watson, according to meeting documents, expressed a wish that the state had more time to consider different proposals. 

Fitch did not attend the meeting, but Deputy Attorney General Whitney Lipscomb attended in her place. Lipscomb voted against the map, although it is unclear why. Fitch’s office declined to comment on why she voted against the map because it involves pending litigation. 

The reason for redrawing the districts is that the state chapter of the NAACP and Black voters in the state sued Mississippi officials for drawing legislative districts in a way that dilutes Black voting power. 

The plaintiffs, represented by the ACLU, are likely to object to the state’s newest proposal, and they have until April 29 to file an objection with the court

The plaintiffs have put forward two alternative proposals for the area in the event the judges rule against the state’s plans. 

The first option would place McLendon and Blackwell in the same district, and the other would place McLendon and Jackson in the same district. 

It is unclear when the panel of judges will issue a ruling on the state’s plan, but they will not issue a ruling until the plaintiffs file their remaining court documents next week. 

While the November election is roughly six months away, changing legislative districts across counties and precincts is technical work, and local election officials need time to prepare for the races. 

The judges have not yet ruled on the full elections calendar, but U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Leslie Southwick said at a hearing earlier this month that the panel was committed have the elections in November. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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