Black Maternal Health Awareness Week - APR 11 - APR 17, 2023

Black Maternal Health Awareness Week is held annually on April 11-17 during National Minority Health Awareness Month to raise awareness about health disparities impacting racial and ethnic minorities and encourage action toward dismantling systems of oppression.  Background  Researchers call the United States the most-dangerous developed country to give birth. About 700 women die each year in the U.S. as a result of pregnancy or delivery complications. One in three maternal deaths is preventable. A National Institute of Health-funded study found that Black women are three times more likely to die than White women from a pregnancy-related cause. Maternal death disparities were concentrated in postpartum cardiomyopathy (heart muscle disease) and preeclampsia and eclampsia. The mortality rate for Black women was five times higher than White women in postpartum cardiomyopathy and preeclampsia and eclampsia.   College-educated Black women have over five times higher pregnancy-related mortality than white women of similar education.