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The  Challenge Maternity Disparities Consortium is a UK wide consortium tasked to develop and carry out transformative research focused on inequalities before, during and after pregnancy. Research from the Consortium will aim to increase the evidence base available to drive actions to reduce maternity inequalities which ultimately will lead to better outcomes for all women and their babies.

The Consortium will also focus on building and strengthening research capacity for maternity inequalities research for the next generation.

Within the Consortium, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) will lead the Research Excellence for Reframing & Accelerating Maternity Equality (REFRAME) Collaboration, which also includes the University of Sheffield and the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

LSHTM brings extensive experience in conducting cutting-edge research in maternity inequalities in the UK and across the globe, informing how the quality of maternity and neonatal services can be improved, and how inequalities in access, experiences, and outcomes of care can be addressed.

Aduragbemi Banke-Thomas, Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Centre for Maternal Adolescent Reproductive Child Health (MARCH) and Ipek Gurol-Urganci, Associate Professor of Health Services Research and Senior Methodologist for the  will co-lead the REFRAME Collaboration. They will work in collaboration with Professors Dilly Anumba and Parveen Ali at the and Dr Sarah Cattan at the

Aduragbemi Banke-Thomas, said: “With maternal mortality ratio increasing by more than 50% between 2017 and 2022, and persistent disparities in maternity outcomes reported between minoritised populations and their white counterparts, as well as the most deprived areas and least deprived, the Consortium could not be launched at a more opportune time.

“I am delighted that we came through what was a highly competitive process, and LSHTM has been selected as a member of the NIHR Maternity Disparities Consortium. The broad expertise in the MARCH Centre and across LSHTM that we bring to the Consortium puts us in a unique position to lead innovative and transformative research that will drive improved understanding of and response to the underpinning causes of maternity inequalities in the UK while building capacity of next generation researchers.”

Ipek Gurol-Urganci, said: “As part of the Consortium, we have a great opportunity to start a coordinated, multi-disciplinary programme of research, collaborating closely with the University of Sheffield and the Institute for Fiscal Studies, to inform and guide policy aimed at reducing maternity disparities.

“By using ‘big data research’, including health and non-health data, alongside an extensive programme of in-depth qualitative research into the circumstances of the lives of women and their families, we will provide crucial evidence that will shed light on the full complexity of the pathways that contribute to maternity disparities, targeting the entire population as well as the most vulnerable groups. We expect that our research will inform cross-sectoral policy changes in the UK, leading to a reduction in maternity disparities and improved access, experiences and outcomes for all women and their families, irrespective of their backgrounds.”