Launched by BMMA in 2018, Black Maternal Health Week is a week-long initiative held from Tuesday, April 11th through Monday, April 17th that amplifies Black and Black women-led efforts across the U.S. and globally to improve and advance maternal health, rights, and justice for Black mothers and birthing people. Black Maternal Health Week takes place each year during National Minority Health Month and coincides with the International Day for Maternal Health and Rights on April 11th. The theme for this year’s campaign is, “Our Bodies Belong to Us: Restoring Black Autonomy and Joy,” which captures the ethos and spirit behind collective efforts to amplify the voices, perspectives, and lived experiences of Black women and birthing people….

“As we reckon with the upending of Roe V. Wade and the relentless attacks against reproductive rights and bodily autonomy,

this year’s Black Maternal Health Week campaign speaks to our

strength, power, and resilience, and our unassailable right to

live freely, safely, and joyfully,”

said Angela D. Aina, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Black Mamas Matter Alliance. “Further, BMMA’s policy agenda is both the culmination and continuation of the work being led by our Alliance partners to end the maternal health crisis in the United States and offers sound, evidence-based policy recommendations that would genuinely support and advance the Black maternal and perinatal workforce.”

-taken from the BMMA press release which you can read in its entirety here.

Key health facts to focus on during this special week:

• Maternal mortality

• Maternal mental health

• Breastfeeding

• Reproductive rights

• Quality of care

• Covid-19

• Black maternal health politics

Check back here throughout the week for more info and ways you can help improve black maternal health no matter who you are, what you do, or where you live.