By Raneisha Stassin
California Black Girls’s Well being Undertaking
California Black Girls’s Well being Undertaking (CABWHP) is a statewide nonprofit dedicated to bettering the well being and wellness of Black ladies and women by advocacy, schooling, outreach and coverage. For 30 years, CABWHP has performed a significant position in addressing well being disparities, selling wellness and uplifting the well being and wellness of Black ladies, women, households, and communities. We deal with addressing the social, systemic and structural determinants of well being and our packages deal with a variety of areas the place Black ladies and women face essentially the most egregious well being disparities together with: maternal and reproductive well being, psychological well being, COVID-19, violence prevention, ageing and extra.
Supporting maternal and reproductive well being continues to be a precedence for our group as Black ladies and birthing persons are thrice extra more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than White ladies. Black ladies and birthing persons are additionally extra more likely to expertise life threatening problems like preeclampsia, postpartum hemorrhage, blood clots and preterm labor. Our Maternal and Reproductive well being program was designed to unfold consciousness of those points and work to handle them. By our programming, we spotlight the significance of recognizing the impression of structural racism and bias in Black maternal well being outcomes as varied research have proven that these elevated dangers impression Black ladies and birthing individuals no matter earnings stage and schooling.
“Racism in medical areas results in discriminatory care. It’s extraordinarily troublesome for the medical area to not have these deep-seated points, particularly round Black ladies’s well being and reproductive care, when gynecology within the U.S. began with inhumane practices and experimentations on Black ladies and women,” mentioned Raena Grandberry, Director of Maternal and Reproductive Well being for CABWHP. “Discriminatory ideologies and misconceptions that have been taught because of these practices sadly nonetheless persist in healthcare at the moment. It’s crucial that we handle the medical bias and structural racism contributing to the poor outcomes Black ladies and women face in maternal and reproductive well being and past.”
Research present that start outcomes enhance with the usage of Black birthworkers, midwives, and doulas, as such our Maternal and Reproductive Well being group collaborate with different community-based organizations and Black birthworkers working to assist Black moms and birthing individuals searching for culturally competent care. The group has hosted greater than 150 birthworker assist circles and engagements together with full spectrum doula trainings, Showering the Village occasions targeted on offering psychological well being assets and different avenues of assist for Black birthworkers, in addition to the Black Birthworkers Enterprise Toolkit which supplies enterprise steering.
Along with strengthening the capability of Black birthworkers, our Maternal and Reproductive well being group educate Black mothers and birthing individuals by a wide range of instructional and empowering wellness targeted occasions, seminars and trainings. Moreover, the group advocates for coverage and systemic modifications all through the state. CABWHP has been a accomplice in coverage and advocacy work that features the Momnibus Act, California’s Reparation Invoice, Doula and House Visiting Medi-Cal Advantages, in addition to enhancements to Paid Household Go away. CABWHP can be concerned in community-centered analysis to enhance start outcomes for Black ladies and has partnered with the College of Southern California, College of California San Diego, and the California Division of Public Well being on a number of surveys and printed reviews.
Greater than 7,000 people have acquired maternal and reproductive data by our group’s outreach efforts. The group is at the moment offering a platform for Black ladies to share their private reproductive well being tales so as to create a story that may inform coverage modifications that enhance maternal, sexual and reproductive well being outcomes for Black ladies in a post-Roe period. The group and group companions are additionally gearing up for numerous Black Maternal Well being Week initiatives and occasions together with:
- Our Our bodies Nonetheless Belong to Us: Reproductive Justice Now – A digital gathering of Black start justice advocates, birthworkers, and Black households.
- The Inland Empire Perinatal Fairness Supplier and Neighborhood Summit – A two-day occasion targeted on advancing well being fairness and high quality of life for Black and African American pregnant ladies and their households.
- Sankofa Beginning Employees Relaxation & Restoration – A wellness occasion for Black Birthworkers within the Inland Empire
To study extra about these upcoming occasions or different methods to become involved go to: https://www.cabwhp.org/mrhealth.html.