February is Black History Month in the United States and Canada (and recognized in October in the United Kingdom and other places) and I am dedicating several posts this month and beyond to the state of maternal-infant health for Black families. Black parents are four times more likely to die in the United States during pregnancy, birth or after birth than white people. Additionally, the majority of these deaths are preventable with proper care and attention during the prenatal and postpartum period. The simple fact is, that Black families have higher morbidity and mortality during the childbearing year. Racism is to blame and until that is accepted as fact, it is unlikely to change.

Shafia Monroe is a Portland-based midwife, doula trainer, motivational speaker and a cultural competency trainer who recently blogged about the issue of Black parents dying in a post titled Ending Black U.S. Maternal Mortality. In her post, Shafia shared the common thread amongst Black parents dying during the childbearing year.

• "Ignoring Black women's plea for medical attention.
• The unconscious bias against Black women.
• Dismissing the health care needs of pregnant and postpartum Black women.
• Not believing Black women when they say, 'something is wrong.'
• Allowing Black postpartum mothers to die."

Shafia shared a link to the Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA) which has created an extensive toolkit loaded with resources that can be found here. The BMMA states that the toolkit was created to provide "advocacy tools that would move the conversation one step closer to a rights-based maternal health policy agenda." Information includes the following.

Published: February 01, 2018

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