AMNIOTIC FLUID EMBOLISM AWARENESS DAY
2024
BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
A PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the maternal mortality rate in the United States increased from 23.8 per 100,000 live births in 2020 to 32.9 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2021; and
WHEREAS, the maternal mortality rate in North Carolina for women within 42 days of giving birth doubled from 2019 to 2021, with the death rate in 2019 of 22 per 100,000 births, the next year at 29, and then a spike to 44 in 2021; and
WHEREAS, an amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) – a rare and often fatal obstetric condition characterized by sudden cardiovascular collapse – is thought to be the result of an allergic-like reaction to the amniotic fluid or fetal cells that have entered the mother’s bloodstream during labor or shortly after delivery; and
WHEREAS, AFE Foundation, working in collaboration with key stakeholders in North Carolina, provides meaningful education and life-saving skills to properly prepare healthcare providers to manage and treat patients, increase lives saved, and gain submissions to the AFE Registry and Biorepository; and
WHEREAS, awareness of AFE and commensurate data collection and research will promote understanding of this disorder, expanding the search for an effective treatment, and accelerating the increased number of lives saved;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, ROY COOPER, Governor of the State of North Carolina, do hereby proclaim March 27, 2024, as “AMNIOTIC FLUID EMBOLISM AWARENESS DAY” in North Carolina, and commend its observance to all citizens.
________________________________________
Roy Cooper
Governor
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Great Seal of the State of North Carolina at the Capitol in Raleigh this twenty-seventh day of March in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-four and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.