Black Maternal Health Week amplifies experiences of Black mothers, addresses disparities in healthcare

Black Maternal Health week runs from April 11-17 ROCKFORD — Black Maternal Health Week aims to raise awareness and take action to improve the health of Black mothers. It’s a major crisis impacting Black mothers on their journey to create new life. “When we look at maternal health, and specifically Black maternal health, that Black mothers are having poor outcomes when it comes to pregnancy and that shouldn’t happen not in 2024. We shouldn’t be seeing that,” Vice President, Chief Medical Officer at OSF HealthCare, Dr. Lisa Davis said. Studies show Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, from 2018 to 2020, Black women were three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related medical conditions than white women. Dr. Davis is also a practicing OB/GYN. and says there’s multiple factors contributing to Black women dying from pregnancy. “It can be conditions related to blood pressure, it can be conditions related to diabetes, conditions related to bleeding on what we consider hemorrhage that can occur not just during the pregnancy, but in the immediate postpartum period,” Dr. Davis said. When those conditions or pregnancy complications...