April 11-17th is Black Maternal Health Week , organized by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance to bring awareness and action to maternal health and reproductive justice. The month of April is also recognized in the United States as National Minority Health Month – a month-long initiative to advance health equity across the country on behalf of all racial and ethnic minorities.

Black women have 3-4 times higher mortality rates than white women in the US; this is unacceptable and we can all do our part to change this!

Subscribe to the Black Mamas Matter Alliance for updates, donate if you have the means to do so, and share their resources with others. Continue supporting their work by following @BlkMamasMatter and amplifying the hashtags #BlackMaternalHealthWeek and #BMHW19.
Learn more during National Minority Health Month by following @MinorityHealth and @OMH_Espanol.
Doulas can be critical advocates for their patients and expecting moms. Learn more about why Every Black Woman deserves a Doula and why this resource is one that all moms should have access to.

Stay up to date with the work of the Black Maternal Health Caucus and write to your political representatives about why black maternal health is a national priority. The National Women’s Law center has a tracker for all state bills related to addressing maternal mortality.

This post was put together by leadership member Tanya Dapkey and Susan Cheng.

Photo by Khürt Williams on Unsplash