The United States has among the worst maternal and infant health outcomes of all high-income countries. Moreover, these overall trends obscure stark racial and socioeconomic inequities: Black women are at highest risk of experiencing pre-term births, low birthweight, and maternal and infant mortality. Both the human and the financial costs are immense. As the U.S. continues to fall further behind, it’s clear a new approach is needed–and direct cash transfers show huge promise.

This brief from the Economic Security Project and the Mother Infant Cash Coalition synthesizes key research findings and explores why investing more public dollars in cash could be transformative for infant and maternal health.