By Dr. Bernadine Futrell
This week, April 11–17, marks the fifth anniversary of Black Maternal Health Week, a campaign to raise awareness on the maternal health crisis in the United States among Black families. Black Maternal Health Week also amplifies community-driven policy, research, and care solutions. For the second year in a row, President Biden has further highlighted the importance of addressing Black maternal mortality and morbidity by issuing a formal proclamation.
As a Black mother, Black Maternal Health Week especially resonates with me and my own personal experiences. This is a time to collaborate and join forces to address the inequities that adversely affect Black maternal health. Both the Head Start and Early Head Start programs, which were founded on equity during a pivotal time of civil rights activism, have a significant role in this work. The importance of this work has been emphasized in the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to providing comprehensive maternal health care that is unbiased and free from discrimination.
Many of us are familiar with the dire statistics regarding the higher risks for pregnancy loss in the Black community because of systemic inequities that continue to exist in our society. We can help influence change by stressing the importance of advancing equity as one of our OHS BIG 4 Priorities for 2022. This priority aligns with the President’s Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government (EO 13985). Key to improving Black maternal health is working across systems and sectors while also listening to the voices of Black women, parents/caregivers, and communities, and actively including their perspective in planning and response efforts.
The Office of Head Start recently released a toolkit, How Head Start Services Can Improve the Outcomes for Birthing Parents. This toolkit includes tips for health managers, directors, home-based staff, and family engagement staff. It also contains a list of urgent maternal health and discrimination warning signs. Head Start staff have several points of contact with families during pregnancy and the postpartum period. By being cognizant of these warning signs, staff can help create a safety net that is more inclusive of Black parents.
Head Start programs play a central role in the communities and families they serve. Starting at the very beginning with pregnancy, Head Start services can be an intentional intervention to address health disparities and promote health equity. Health equity is a process that makes an impact one step at a time. I am thankful that we have a community that is committed to ensuring healthy outcomes for all families and parents. The unfortunate reality is the United States has the highest maternal death rates of any wealthy nation in the world, and Black maternal health outcomes are most significantly affected by those contributing factors. As a result, we recognize there is still more work to be done to ensure that Black parents receive the same proper care and support during pregnancy as all families.
For more information and best practices in tracking services delivered to enrolled pregnant parents, both directly and from community partners, see ACF-IM-HS-22-02. If you need additional support or technical assistance related to maternal health, please contact your OHS regional office.
Dr. Bernadine Futrell is the Director of the Office of Head Start.