Black Maternal Health Week 2024
NICHQ celebrates Black Maternal Health Week, observed April 11-17, as a week of awareness, activism, and community building to lift the voices of and improve the birthing experience for Black people. Join us in honoring Black Mamas Matter Alliance's vision by attending a #BMHW24 community event and using their online toolkit to deepen the national conversation about Black maternal health.
Register for NICHQ's #BMHW24 Event
The Equity Exchange: Reproductive Justice + Black Feminism
Join NICHQ for a virtual event in honor of Black Maternal Health Week 2024. The next Equity Exchange, held on April 16 from 1-2 PM EDT, will focus on reproductive justice and Black Feminist Theory as a framework for Black women's health and well-being.
Join us for a conversation about reproductive justice, criminalizing pregnancy loss, and the dangerous implications for all women and birthing people, but particularly Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities.
Featured speakers include:
- Dana West, Ph.D., MHS, Associate Project Director of Equity at NICHQ
- Nicole Deggins, CNM, MSN, MPH, Founder and CEO at Sista Midwife Productions
- Shakera C. Tems, MPA, Excelsior Service Fellow, New York State Dept. of Labor
Before Birth & Beyond ft. Kimberly Seals Allers
Don't miss the next episode of Before Birth & Beyond where we sit down with Kimberly Seals Allers, creator of IRTH, to discuss the importance of collecting and sharing data to improve the experience of care for women and birthing people in Black and brown communities.
IRTH is a “Yelp-like” platform for the pregnancy and new motherhood journey, made by and for people of color. The app empowers Black and brown women and birthing people to share prenatal, birthing, postpartum, and pediatric reviews of care. Then, the IRTH team turns those collective experiences into meaningful data to push for change within health systems.
Sign up to be notified about the release of our upcoming episode.
Resources to Support Black Mothers and Babies
INSIGHT | Impact of Institutional Racism on Maternal and Child Health
Persistent health disparities are driven by the ongoing effects of institutional racism–racism that began with the enslavement of Black people, was embedded in our earliest institutions, and has continued to influence policies and practices ever since. By understanding what’s happened in the past, individuals and organizations can better understand what’s causing today’s disparities and identify solutions that move toward an equitable future.
Case Studies | Efforts to Address Preterm Birth Rates
Black babies are at much higher risk of being born preterm or low birth weight due to their mothers increased exposure to toxic stress from institutionalized racism. Targeted interventions and policy efforts, outlined in this case study, can play a significant role in reducing preterm birth rates.
Keep Learning with NICHQ Webinars
Clinical care providers, public health professionals, educators, and community advocates can view these past NICHQ webinars to learn how to better support Black mothers, birthing people, and families as they navigate unique challenges in the health care system.
- LENS Care: Leading Equity Now in Systems of Care
- From Awareness to Action: Strategies for Combating Racism in Health Systems
- Social Determinants of Grief: The Impact of Black Infant Loss
- Reducing Preterm Birth: States Share Interventions, Policy Efforts, and Emerging Issues
NICHQ Projects Dedicated to Supporting Black Mothers, Birthing People, and Families
Supporting Healthy Start Performance Project
NICHQ, in partnership with the National Healthy Start Association, provides comprehensive capacity-building assistance for 101 Healthy Start programs nationwide on high-priority topics that impact Black mothers and families, such as safe sleep, fatherhood, and breastfeeding.
New York State Birth Equity Improvement Project
NICHQ supports the New York State Department of Health’s (NYSDOH) New York State Perinatal Quality Collaborative (NYSPQC) in their empowerment of birthing facilities to identify how individual and systemic racism impacts birth outcomes at their organizations and take action to improve both the experience of care and perinatal outcomes for Black birthing people in the communities they serve.
National Network of Perinatal Quality Collaboratives
NICHQ serves as the coordinating center and provides expertise to state-based perinatal quality collaboratives with the goal of deepening and accelerating improvement efforts for maternal and infant health outcomes, particularly within populations disproportionately affected by adverse perinatal outcomes.