April 11 - 15 is Black Maternal Health Week

#BMHW22 is a week dedicated to educating and advocating for all to focus on the root causes of poor maternal health outcomes, while engaging Black voices to lead immediate conversations around community-driven policies and programs.

The Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA) is a national network of organizations and leaders from the maternal health, human rights, and reproductive justice fields. We believe that every woman deserves access to quality and holistic health care.

Founded by BMMA, Black Maternal Health Week is a week of awareness, activism, and community-building aimed at amplifying the voices of Black Mamas, and centering the values and traditions of the reproductive and birth justice movements. BMHW is held annually in April during National Minority Health Month.

BMHW22 is, above all, a week dedicated to educating and advocating for Black Mamas. Through a series of digital events and community engagement, BMHW uplifts Black women-led organizations to focus on the root causes of poor maternal health outcomes, while engaging Black voices to lead immediate conversations around community-driven policies and programs.

Please read on to learn about why this week is so important:

  • According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 700 women die each year in the United States as a result of pregnancy or delivery complications. (Source: CDC)

  • In 2020, Black women were most disproportionately affected with a mortality rate of 55.3 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared to 19.1 deaths per 100,000 live births, and 18.2 deaths per 100,000 live births for White and Hispanic women, respectively. (Source: CDC)

  • The U.S. has an infant mortality rate of 5.6 per 1000 live births in 2019, with a health disparity among Black babies at a rate of 10.8 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2018. (Source: CDC)

  • Black women are 3 - 5 times more likely to have a maternal death than White women in the United States. (Source: AJMC)

  • About 75.5% of Black infants are breastfed compared to more than 85% of White and Latinx moms. (Source: CDC)

  • Among all infants, Black infants had a significantly lower rate of exclusive breastfeeding at age 3 months (39.3%) than did White infants (50.6%); at age 6 months, the rates of any breastfeeding were 49.3% among black infants and 60.0% among White infants. (Source: CDC)

  • Hospitals in areas with higher percentages of Black residents were less likely to provide recommended maternity care practices supportive of breastfeeding. (Source: CDC)

  • People from some racial and ethnic minority groups are more likely to be uninsured than non-Hispanic whites. (Source: NCBI)

  • Research indicates that 22% of Black women receive a lower quality of care than white women and are subject to discrimination in the healthcare field. (Source: NCBI)

  • Perinatal community-based models of care offer enhanced care and support throughout the pre-pregnancy to postpartum spectrum, including doula and midwifery childbirth services to pregnant women who face barriers to care. (Source: IMI)

Cyndy Tabor