As Nation’s Week-Long (Apr 11-17) Awareness Initiative Begins
Nation-wide initiatives to attract attention to Black maternity health matters begin today in observance of Black Maternal Health Week (BMHW), today, Thursday, April 11 and running through Wednesday, April 17.
Yesterday, Borough President Antonio Reynoso spoke to Our Time Press about the need for enhanced maternal health care:
“Black women are about 8 times more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications than their white counterparts. It’s one of the greatest injustices that our city is bearing witness to and an issue that is deeply personal for me.
I remember the feeling of helplessness when my wife was pregnant with my first son, and I learned just how severe of an inequity we faced. It’s a feeling no family should experience. Pregnancies are supposed to be happy, healthy, celebratory times, but because of challenges that range from infrastructure and staffing, to historical disinvestment and neglect, Black and Brown families all too often are faced with complications and consequences.
When I began my administration, I set out to change that by investing in our public hospitals, bringing together experts in maternal health, and championing the comprehensive measures that can turn the tide on the maternal health crisis.
Access to state-of-the-art tech, excellent OBGYNs and health personnel, culturally competent midwives, and prenatal and postnatal resources are only the beginning of the work that my office is pursuing as we seek to make this borough the safest place in the city to have a baby.”