CHC Program Director Presents at Premiere Conference for Black Maternal Health

CHC: Creating Healthier Communities Program Director, Adelaide Appiah, presented an update on the Black Birthing Initiative, a recently launched partnership with Elevance Health Foundation focused on reducing the high rates of preterm births among Black women in three states. The presentation took place at the Black Mamas Matter Alliance 2022 Black Maternal Health Conference and Training Institute held September 17-18, 2022, in Washington, DC.

Founded and led by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA), the Black Maternal Health Conference and Training Institute (BMHC22) is the premiere assembly for Black women, clinicians, professionals, advocates, and other stakeholders working to improve maternal health using the birth justice, reproductive justice, and human rights frameworks. This year’s theme was “Building for Liberation: Centering Black Mamas, Black Families and Black Systems of Care”, which reflects BMMA’s work in centering Black women’s scholarship, maternity care work, and advocacy across the full spectrum of sexual, maternal, and reproductive health care, services, programs, and initiatives.

Research shows that disparities in maternal deaths and preterm births cannot simply be explained by education or socioeconomic levels. Stress of everyday discrimination on Black women and birthing people, such as being associated with negative stereotypes, and implicit bias, can harm relationships between Black women and care providers.

Adele shared the initial findings from the Black Birthing Initiative, focused on addressing the social drivers of health to increase equity in maternal health and reduce preterm births, on Saturday, September 17. The presentation allowed for further exploration of big lessons, and a call for greater community coordination in working together on this important issue. Among the accomplishments achieved so far through the multi-million dollar initiative are:

• Building a program infrastructure with program staff and expertise.
• Completing a literature review and additional background research.
• Establishing a collaborative partnership with community-based organizations (Atlanta, Cleveland, and Indianapolis), including recruiting partner organizations with 8 Black-led maternal health organizations.
• Completing a series of focus groups and listening sessions with doulas, birth advocates, and Black women and birthing people in each focus city, including 5 surveys and 4 listening sessions.
• Developing an implementation guide and screening tool to ensure success of the intervensions to avert preterm births.

Adele was also able to attend several sessions at the conference, including: The Black Birthing Bill of Rights – Launching A Digital resource Hub for Practical and Liberatory Strategies to Support Black Birth Rights, presented by the National Association to Advance Black Birth (NAABB); Human-centered Solutions for Respectful Black Maternal Health Care; Facilitators, Barriers, and Limits to Growth for Black-led Organizations; and So You want to Start a Podcast? Storytelling Journalism, & Audio Production Strategies to Shift Cultural Norms In Birth & Breastfeeding.

“Partnership is imperative in this space,” said Adele. “This conference provided a great opportunity for us to share the success of our initiative model while learning more about ways that we can better support the many needs of Black women and birthing people in their communities.”

Black women are 3 times as likely to die from pregnancy related causes as white women in the U.S. Further, Black women are about 50% more likely to deliver a premature baby than white women. High preterm birth rates for Black women and birthing people exist across socioeconomic levels.  When infants are born preterm, before 37 weeks, they have higher rates of death and disability.

Through funding from Elevance Health Foundation (formerly Anthem Foundation), CHC launched the Black Birthing Initiative in January 2022 to address the maternal health crisis and reduce preterm births.