UNC Health has created an obstetrics and gynecology fellowship program to improve access to high quality maternal care and improve outcomes for patients in rural North Carolina. It is the nation’s first fellowship training program focused on rural women’s health, the Chapel Hill, N.C.-based system said in an Aug. 26 news release. The two-year program will train physicians out of UNC Health Rockingham in Eden and UNC Health Lenoir in Kinston, which both serve rural counties.

The program comes amid a persistent maternal health crisis in the U.S., where maternal mortality rates are higher than in other developed countries and significant disparities exist by race and geography. Rural communities face particularly acute challenges, with fewer obstetric providers and longer travel times for

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