Maternal Health

Minor in Maternal Health

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 260,000 women died globally in 2023 while pregnant or during childbirth. Many of these deaths may have been prevented with timely attentive care by healthcare professionals. Maternal health is an interdisciplinary study of the policies and practices of health care with the goal of reducing and eliminating preventable maternal mortality.

The Maternal Health minor brings together study in the areas of human services, healthcare advocacy, psychology, and sociology to increase awareness of maternal health and to identify changes in practice and policy to reduce the number of preventable maternal deaths.

If you are interested in learning about maternal health or in supporting and advocating for maternal health globally, consider adding a maternal health minor. Your future work and advocacy could contribute to the future decrease in mortality rates internationally. 

What to expect as a maternal health minor

18 credits

Learn about Maternal Health academic requirements and courses here.

The Maternal Health minor complements the advocacy components of the Human Services major, the developmental and preprofessional training in the Psychology major, the caregiving and advocacy components in the Nursing major, and the pre-health professional preparation in the Biology major. However, anyone with an interest in this area can declare this minor!

Five courses are required for the minor (Health Psychology, the Psychology of Birth, Communicating with Patients and Professionals, Cultural Diversity in Healthcare, and Human Sexuality). The final course is a Sociology course from which you may choose SOC 2320 Social Problems, SOC 2450 Sociology of the Family, SOC 3040 Social Class, Power, and Inequality, SOC 3410 Race, Gender and Society, or SOC 4710 Community Action to complete your minor. You will need to complete SOC 1010 Introduction to Sociology as a prerequisite for the Sociology course in the minor.

Be prepared for your future

The ability to understand, discuss, and think critically about health topics are transferrable skills valuable not only in your career, but also in your personal life!

The minor also helps to prepare students who are interested in service provision careers including advocates, counselors, doctors, nurses, and social workers.

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