The U.S. has one of the highest maternal mortality rates among wealthy nations, research shows, so heirs of the multibillion Walmart fortune are working to drastically lower it.
On Thursday, Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies America (HMHBA) announced an initial $100 million, five-year commitment from Olivia and Tom Walton to accelerate efforts to cut maternal deaths in half across the U.S. However, the investment will fund state-matching grants, partnerships, and infrastructure, so HMHBA will use the multimillion-dollar gift as a springboard to drive more public and private capital.
Olivia Walton founded HMHBA in May to cut maternal mortality rates in half over the next five years. She launched the campaign through the Walton family’s Heartland Forward, a “think and do” tank dedicated to issues in the U.S. Heartland region. Walton made the mission personal.
“It was more dangerous for me to give birth to my children than it was for my mother to give birth to me in the 1980s,” she said in a statement. “That is inexcusable—and it is fixable.”
She argues the solutions to maternal mortality already exist; it’s just a matter of getting resources to more mothers. This includes getting them into care earlier, extending postpartum support beyond a six-week checkup, and building care around what families actually need.
“Nearly 90 percent of maternal deaths are preventable,” Walton continued. “We know what works, and states across the country are already proving it.”
Maternal mortality in the U.S.
Even after a decline in 2023, the U.S. maternal mortality rate sat at nearly 19 deaths per 100,000 live births, which is higher than most other high-income countries. That year, 669 women died of maternal causes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The risk isn’t evenly spread. For Black women, the rate was 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births, more than three times the rate for white women. Two-thirds of maternal deaths happen in the year after birth, HMHBA notes, and 40% of mothers don’t receive follow-up care. Rural mothers also face worse odds as hospitals keep closing obstetric units.
“The U.S. spends more money for worse outcomes on maternal health. Far more than any other country in the entire world,” HMHBA Executive Director Robin Reck said in a statement. “Eighty-seven percent of these deaths are preventable, and 65% of them happen after the baby is born. That is unacceptable. And it is un-American.”
Maternal mortality is also costly. Poor health outcomes in 2020 cost the U.S. economy an estimated $165 billion, according to a Heartland Forward study. So preventing just half of those avoidable outcomes would save nearly $80 billion per year. For example, a healthy, full-term delivery costs about $6,400, while an extreme preterm birth can cost $238,000. March of Dimes also found first-year medical costs run roughly four times higher for preterm infants than for full-term ones.
About Olivia and Tom Walton’s philanthropy
Tom Walton is the grandson of Walmart founder Sam Walton, and the family’s roughly 44% stake in the No. 2 Fortune 500 company is worth about $440 billion, Fortune’s former senior reporter Jessica Matthews reported earlier this year.
The collective scale of the family’s philanthropy also puts them in the same boat as legendary American dynasties including the Carnegies, the Rockefellers, and the Vanderbilts, she reported. Most of the family’s giving flows through the Walton Family Foundation, which Sam and Helen Walton started in 1987. In 2024 alone, the foundation awarded nearly $550 million in grants. The Walton Family Foundation’s prime focus areas include the environment, education, and other causes in Northwest Arkansas.
Tom sits on the Walton Family Foundation’s four-member board, and Olivia (who married into the Walton family) focuses mostly on the arts and women’s causes. She succeeded Alice Walton (the only daughter of Sam and Helen Walton) as the chair of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, and she founded Ingeborg Investments, which funds female startup founders. In 2021, she and Tom also helped seed a $1 million fund supporting LGBTQ+ groups in Arkansas, which was a notable move in a conservative state.
A bipartisan bet
Olivia and Tom’s latest $100 million commitment is a campaign betting maternal health is one of the few issues that can still draw bipartisan support.
A national poll of more than 1,000 registered and likely voters released in July found 86% of voters say maternal health needs to improve, and 79% would vote for a candidate who champions such reforms. All 15 policy proposals the poll tested drew majority support from Republicans, Democrats, and independents.
Meanwhile, HMHBA is backing two bipartisan bills, the first being the Rural Obstetrics Readiness Act, which is sponsored by Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), and Tina Smith (D-Minn.). This would fund training, equipment, and teleconsultation so rural facilities without obstetricians can handle delivery emergencies. It cleared the Senate health committee in July and now awaits a floor vote.
The second bill, the NIH IMPROVE Act—led in the Senate by Britt and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.)—would authorize seven years of funding for the National Institutes of Health’s maternal-health research initiative.
“America should be the safest place in the world to have a baby,” Olivia Walton said in a statement. “We have the evidence and we have the solutions. Now we need the urgency and investment to make them available to every mom, across the country.”
