Black Maternal Health Week – Celebrating the hope and strength in communities

Held annually on April 11-17th, Black Maternal Health Week BMHW is a week-long campaign founded and led by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance​ (BMMA) to build awareness, activism, and community-building​ to amplify ​the voices, perspectives and lived experiences of Black Mamas and birthing people. Among activities in celebration and recognition of BMWH, CHC: Creating Healthier Communities joined at Tweetchat hosted by BMHW founders, the Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA) earlier this week. BMHW is an opportunity for CHC to listen to, learn from and connect with other Black maternal health advocates to enhance our knowledge as we work towards improving Black birthing outcomes and reducing preterm birth as part of our Elevance-funded Black Birthing Initiative.

CHC’s Black Birthing Initiative aims to identify and address unmet SDOH needs, medical racism, and stress by connecting Black pregnant people with birth advocates and resources to support a healthy full-term birth.  Collaboratives in Atlanta, Cleveland, and Detroit have begun the implementation of the BBI program. Listening has been key to the success of our inititiave, including the notable accomplishments of the first year including:

• Establishing collaborative partnerships with community-based organizations, including recruiting partner organizations with Black-led maternal health organizations.
• Completing a series of focus groups and listening sessions with doulas, birth advocates, and Black women and birthing people.
• Developing an implementation guide and screening tool to ensure success of the interventions to avert preterm births.

In the coming weeks, CHC will announce more exciting developments made possible through the support of Elevance Health Foundation.

This year’s BMHW theme is “Our Bodies Belong to Us: Restoring Black Autonomy and Joy.” We believe this is a theme worth celebrating as, in many cases, Black women and birthing people have been removed from choice around birthing experiences. Black midwives, including those who are part of the groups that CHC works with through are Black Birthing Initiative, are critical to supporting Black women and bodily autonomy. The midwifery model is rooted in patient-centered, affirming care, establishing trust and empowerment. We hope to see a healthcare framework that allows Black mamas the choice to access midwifery care.

As part of our mission in health equity, we focus specifically on the unmet needs of Black families. As we continue our work in Black maternal health, we will continue to reach out to community leaders to learn more about the issues that women in their communities are facing and ways that we can help. CHC is also conducting research to better understand the unmet needs and connect communities and people in those spaces.  Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalalition of Georgia perinatal care packages and The National Association to Advance Black Birth Black Birthing Bill of Rights™️ are resources that achieve self-care and bodily autonomy.