Black maternal health week begins

April 11-17 is Black Maternal Health Week. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women are three times more likely to die from something pregnancy-related than white women. Multiple legislators and community organizers met Monday at the Capitol to make a call to action.”Mississippi, we need to do better. Mississippi, we’ve got to be better. We absolutely must be better,” said Timaka James-Jones, House representative for District 51.”Mississippi has the highest maternal mortality rate in the country. We need comprehensive primary care before, during and after pregnancy. Yet many people live in areas with health care services are scarce,” said Cassandra Welchlin, Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable’s executive director.Zakiya Summers, House representative for District 68, presented a proclamation at Monday’s press conference recognizing Black Maternal Health Week in the state of Mississippi.”It goes way back to history and Black women, our bodies not being valued as, you know, as human beings. But that’s only one part of it. Having to navigate a system that was not designed for you, was not designed for you to easily navigate it — that’s another piece,” said Nakeitra Burse, Six Dimensions public health consulting founder.A Maternal Health conference will be held Tuesday, April 15, through Wednesday, April 16, at the Mississippi Museum of Art. Visit Do it for the Culture maternal health conference to register.

This post was originally published on this site