Tinuke Awe and Clotilde Abe’s talk, The fight to save Black mothers’ lives, is a powerful exploration of Black maternal experience and the shocking realities Black women and birthing people face. Tinuke and Clotilde explain how the current health systems are putting Black women and birthing people at risk – in 2018 research showed Black women were 5 times more likely to die in childbirth, pregnancy and 6 weeks after birth than their white counterparts. Tinuke and Clotilde co-founded Five X More, an organisation that campaigns for improved health outcomes for Black women and birthing people. Luckily, there has been some progress but Black women are still 2.9 times more likely to die in childbirth, pregnancy and 6 weeks after birth.
So what can we all do to help support better Black maternal health? This question is all the more topical with May being month of multiple awareness days about maternal health including Black Maternal Health Week, International Day of the Midwife, World Maternal Mental Health Day, Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week and Black Baby Loss Awareness Week.
#1 Watch and share The fight to save Black mothers’ lives by Tinuke Awe and Clotilde Abe
Tinuke and Clotilde need help to raise awareness of the issues Black women and birthing people face. As they say in their talk, “Advocacy is about community. It’s about standing up for each other, sharing stories, and amplifying voices.” You can be part of this community amplifying the stories of Black women and birthing people.
#2 Follow and subscribe to Five X More
Follow, like and share Five X More’s on Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok. They share amazing content on their campaigns, thought leadership and experiences of Black women and birthing people. You can also sign up to their newsletter to be kept in loop and ready to support.
#3 Write to your MP and ask them to sign up to the Black Maternal Health Pledge
At Five X More has an ongoing campaign asking Black women and any ally’s to write to their MPs asking them to sign the pledge. Five X More have provided briefing packs to help write a personalised letter to your MP. Once you write to your MP, take a picture of it and tag them and Five X More to let them know you have written to them.
#4 Learn more about Black maternity experiences
Tinuke and Clotilde’s talk shared a few stories – including their own – about Black maternal experiences. However there are so many stories from Black women and birthing people that can teach us about our health and care systems and Black maternity:
– The Black Maternity Experiences Survey Report – led by Tinuke and Clotilde provides a comprehensive overview of Black Maternity experiences and includes many different stories.
– In the latest Black Maternal Health Week, Five X More shared positive personal stories about Black maternal experiences.
– Five X More’s blog shares firsthand accounts from many Black women and birthers.
– Listen to Tinuke and Clotilde speaking on Ladies Who Launch with Rochelle Humes podcast for more about their story.
#5 Support the wider community
Five X More is not the only organisation working in this area. You can learn more by following and engaging with their partners and other great charities and organisations working in this area. Here’s a taster:
– Tommy’s — a charity working to prevent baby loss through research, advocacy and campaigning. In partnership with Five X More, they also provide a specialist midwife helpline for Black and Black Mixed-Heritage women and birthing people in the UK with any aspect of your pregnancy journey.
– Petals Charity – provides and promotes specialist counselling for parents across the UK following baby loss. They also work in partnership with Tommy’s and Five X More for Black and Black-mixed Heritage women and birthing people.
– Black Mothers Matter – they deliver a range of resources and services that provide accurate, relevant, safer information and support to our community of Black & Mixed Black women and birthers.
– The Positive Birth Company – provides award-winning pregnancy, birth and parenting education via digital courses.
– Black Maternity Matters – a collaboration, supporting perinatal staff to reduce the inequitable maternity outcomes faced by Black mothers and their babies.
– Maternal Mental Health Alliance – a UK charity and network of 130 organisations, dedicated to ensuring women and families affected by perinatal mental health problems have access to high-quality, compassionate care.
– MBRRACE-UK (Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK) – a collaboration responsible for conducting robust national surveillance, research and investigations into the deaths of women and babies who die during pregnancy or shortly after pregnancy in the UK.
Bonus action for Black mothers, parents or birthing people!
You can download the Five X More Learning Hub App – the UK’s first culturally tailored pregnancy and parenting app for Black mothers and birthing people. Download from Apple App Store. Download from Google Play Store.
