BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (WNDU) – Crowell Health celebrated Black Breastfeeding Week by hosting the Black Maternal and Infant Health Summit in their latest installation of Community Grand Rounds today.
The summit, held at Lake Michigan College, featured a panel of local maternal health and lactation experts.
They gathered to address what they described as not just a health issue but a human rights issue. As Black mothers are nearly 3 times as likely as white mothers to die in childbirth. Similarly, Black babies are also nearly 3 times more likely to die of SIDS than white babies.
Keynote speaker Dr. Sekeita Lewis-Johnson stresses the importance of mothers advocating for themselves and interviewing potential providers before finding the right one.
“Really having dialogue and meaningful conversations before you commit to a provider. Because it’s your body, it’s your birth, and you deserve to have the type of experience you want,” says Lewis-Johnson.
James Gunter, the executive director of Present Pillars, talked about the role that Black fathers have in advocating for their partners and remaining in steadfast in supporting new mothers as a whole.
“This is an all-hands-on-deck type of situation, in my opinion. We are talking about life, the fact that black women are dying at three times the rate. To me It’s impetrative that we look at this as people, that we start humanizing this.”
Dr. Lewis-Johnson’s organization, IBCLCs of Color, is located in southeast Michigan and provides many free lactation services and community milk-sharing initiatives.
Additional events will be held virtually for the rest of Black Breastfeeding Week.
Click here for a complete list of events.
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