Morgan State University’s School of Community Health and Policy (SCHP) and the Center for Urban Health Equity (CUHE) are spearheading a comprehensive initiative to address maternal and child health disparities among Black mothers and infants.
With over $15 million in federal grants, the initiative aims to create a community-based research framework to explore and mitigate the non-medical structural forces driving inequities in maternal health. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has committed more than $50 million to support the White House Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis, highlighting the urgency of this issue.
Black maternal and infant mortality rates are alarmingly high, with Black infants nearly four times less likely to survive due to complications related to low birth weight, and Black mothers twice as likely to receive late or no prenatal care.
Yvonne Bronner, Sc.D., professor of Public Health at Morgan State, emphasized the role of social determinants of health in these disparities, citing evidence from the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The initiative focuses on expanding the maternal healthcare workforce, increasing accessibility to maternity services, and addressing postpartum maternal health issues in marginalized communities. Kim Dobson Sydnor, Ph.D., dean of SCHP, expressed optimism about the impact of this funding on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and communities nationwide.
See “Bridging the Divide in Maternal and Child Health” (March 13, 2024)