Public health students launch project to support breastfeeding in Black community

Black Lactation Matters is a project started by two UC Berkeley Public Health students that aims to increase health equity and the breastfeeding rate in the Black community. Other goals of the project include lowering maternal risk factors that contribute to Black maternal mortality and morbidity rates. Renee Clarke, a NICU nurse and doctoral candidate in public health, and Retundo Ajayi, a full-spectrum doula and master’s candidate in public health,applied and received a grant for the project within campus’s public health department. “A lot of times there’s a stigma associated with breastfeeding in the Black community,” Clarke said. “I think now it’s being talked about a little bit more with this push towards breastfeeding and so that’s why the project is important — that’s why we focus more on the Black community.” The project had 10 Black doulas become lactation education counselors by taking a course at UC San Diego Extended Studies. In addition to being medically certified, these doulas received this certificate to aid Black mothers with breastfeeding. The project removed financial barriers so they could take the course. Clarke and Ajayi partnered with organizations promoting health equity like Doula Doula and Solano HEALs to provide continuous support for...