THE CAUSE: Reducing health disparities for Black mothers and babies by supporting Black Mamas Matter Alliance🤰🏿🤰🏻🤰🏾🤰🏼🤰🏽

THE CHALLENGE: Any day during the month of October, track 3.5 miles with your fitness tracking device (Fitbit, Apple Watch, Garmin, etc.). Walk 🚶, run🏃‍♀️, bike 🚴, hike, skip, swim 🏊‍♀️, dance 💃🕺…however you want to get those 3.5 miles in is up to you! $2 will be donated on your behalf to support the health and wellbeing of Black mothers and babies. Post a screenshot of your stats from your tracking device’s app in the discussion section of our Facebook October 2021 event page or submit your results manually on our website. One submission will be accepted per person. Submissions will be accepted until 11/1/2021 at 11:59PM.

Want to go the extra mile? Your charitable donation will help support health outcomes for Black mothers and babies while also helping us continue to create programming that cultivates conversations around the complex social justice issues we face in the US. You can donate here 👉 https://www.benefitchallenges.org/take-action

THE WHY: October is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month. The United States has the highest maternal and infant mortality rates compared to other developed countries. What is even more disheartening, though, is that maternal and infant mortality is disproportionately realized in Black mothers and babies. Black women in the US, from all income ranges and backgrounds, are dying at 3.5 times the rate of non-Hispanic white women from pregnancy-related complications that are preventable (CDC, 2020). Additionally, Black infant mortality rates are 2 times that of non-Hispanic white babies (CDC, 2021).

Let’s be clear—this is not a matter that is driven by physiological differences or solely rooted in social factors like income or level of education. One study found that Black middle-class women in New York were still more likely to die than white working-class women (New York Task Force, 2019). Black mothers are more likely than white mothers to receive lower quality care and unfair treatment that can contribute to these disparities. A 2016 survey found that half of the white medical students and residents surveyed believe at least one misconception about racial differences, including that Black people feel less pain than white people (Villarosa, 2019). This bias could result in doctors dismissing symptoms of pain and discomfort expressed by Black women during pregnancy, childbirth, or postpartum. A 2020 study found that when newborn Black infants were cared for by Black physicians, their mortality rate is halved, especially in more complex cases and in hospitals that deliver more Black babies (Greenwood et al., 2020).

Being a parent is a beautiful gift for those who choose it. Black mothers matter. Black babies matter. Life is a precious gift that should not be threatened by preventable problems. We can do better. Our healthcare system can do better. Join us in supporting positive health outcomes for Black mothers and babies. 👶🏿👶🏻👶🏾👶🏼👶🏽

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Infant Mortality,” 8 September 2021, https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternalinfanthealth/infantmortality.htm

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Infographic: Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Pregnancy-Related Deaths — United States, 2007–2016", 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternal-mortality/disparities-pregnancy-related-deaths/infographic.html 

Greenwood Brad N. et al., “Physician–patient racial concordance and disparities in birthing mortality for newborns”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 117, no. 35 (August 2020): 21194-21200, https://www.pnas.org/content/117/35/21194

New York State Taskforce on Maternal Mortality and Disparate Racial Outcomes, "Recommendations to the Governor to Reduce Maternal Mortality and Racial Disparities", March 2019, https://health.ny.gov/community/adults/women/task_force_maternal_mortality/docs/maternal_mortality_report.pdf

Villarosa, L., "How False Beliefs in Physical Racial Difference Still Live in Medicine Today", New York Times, 14 August 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/racial-differences-doctors.html