One of the most troubling trends in American healthcare within the last few years has been the steady rise of maternal mortality rates. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 1,205 women died of maternal causes in 2021, compared to 861 in 2020 and 754 in 2019. The maternal mortality rate for 2021 was 32.9 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared with a rate of 23.8 in 2020 and 20.1 in 2019.
These numbers become even more dismal when considering the rate of maternal mortality among Black women in the U.S. In 2021, the maternal mortality rate for Black women was 69.9 deaths per 100,000 live births, 2.6 times the rate for non-Hispanic White women (26.6).1
To bring awareness to this issue affecting Black mothers, Black Maternal Health Week is observed each year from April 11 to 17. Intentionally held during National Minority Health Month, Black Maternal Health Week was founded and is led by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA), and is designed to build awareness, activism, and community-building to amplify the voices, perspectives and lived experiences of Black mothers and birthing people. This year, the theme for the week is “Our Bodies Belong to Us: Restoring Black Autonomy and Joy!”
According to a statistical brief from BMMA, Black women are more likely to experience preterm birth, low birth weight, and gestational diabetes than women of other races. They are also more likely to experience postpartum depression and other mental health issues.
The brief also highlights the systemic factors that contribute to these disparities. These include structural racism, economic stability, lack of access to healthcare, and implicit bias within the healthcare system. For example, Black women are less likely to receive adequate prenatal care than women of other races, and they are more likely to experience discrimination and mistreatment during childbirth.2
BMMA is working to address these issues by advocating for policy change and community-led solutions. The organization believes that community-led solutions are critical to improving Black maternal health, as they center the voices and experiences of Black women and their families.
To learn more about Black Maternal Health Week and the work of BMMA, visit their website.
At Frontier Nursing University (FNU), helping to address this issue is critical as we work each day to provide education for ethical, compassionate, innovative, and entrepreneurial leaders to work with all people with an emphasis on rural and underserved communities.
“It is imperative that our students, faculty and staff have cultural awareness and competency to help overcome racial disparities in health care,” said FNU president Dr. Susan Stone. “Many of us can grasp, empathize and even identify with the constant and persistent stress families face when a loved one is sick. Our hope is a renewed focus on social injustices will allow people to open their hearts in the same way when it comes to racism.”
At FNU, we are proud of the fact that many of our graduates are currently working to address inequities in healthcare and are providing compassionate care for underserved populations. In honor of Black Maternal Health Week, let us introduce you to two of them.
Dr. Stephanie Mitchell, DNP, CNM, CPM
To the casual observer, opening Birth Sanctuary Gainesville might not make a lot of sense. First, Gainesville is a rural town in Alabama with a population of less than 200. Second, because of state regulations that severely restrict the scope of care nurse-midwives can provide, there are no birth centers in the entire state. That is about to change because FNU alumni Dr. Stephanie Mitchell, DNP, CNM, CPM, plans to open Birth Sanctuary Gainesville later this year. While the uncertainties are many, Mitchell insists, “It will get done.”
Mitchell is the sort of person who finds ways to get things done. Barriers represent an opportunity rather than a permanent roadblock. Even her road to becoming a nurse-midwife was a circuitous one. Where others might have given up and changed course, Mitchell never wavered from her plan.
Read more in Boston Midwife Prepares to Open Alabama’s First Birth Center.
Dr. Jeanine Valrie-Logan, CNM, MSN, MPH
Growing up, Jeanine Valrie-Logan, CNM (FNU Class 146), MSN, MPH, wanted to be an opera singer or a doctor. Today, she’s neither one, but she’s putting both her medical and communications talents to good use. She is in the process of opening the Chicago Southside Birth Center and is spreading the word throughout the community, which currently has no other birth centers nearby.
“Geographically, there’s nothing there,” said Valrie-Logan, who currently works part-time as a certified nurse-midwife at the Birth Center PCC in Berwyn, Illinois. When PCC Community Wellness Center (PCC) opened the birth center in 2014, it was the state’s first freestanding birth center. “For me, going to work from the south side of Chicago takes about an hour, and that’s when you get to a first birth center. People are traveling from everywhere to come see us at PCC because there’s nothing in between.”
Read more in Dr. Jeanine Valrie-Logan Prepares to Open Birth Center in Chicago’s Urban Underserved South Side.
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1 Hoyert, Donna L. “Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States, 2021.” CDC, 16 March 2023, https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/maternal-mortality/2021/maternal-mortality-rates-2021.htm. Accessed 30 March 2023.
2 Robinson, Ayanna. “BLACK MATERNAL HEALTH.” Black Mamas Matter Alliance, 2020, https://blackmamasmatter.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/0322_BMHStatisticalBrief_Final.pdf. Accessed 30 March 2023.
Carrie Belin is an experienced board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner and a graduate of the Johns Hopkins DNP program, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Georgetown University School of Nursing, and Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She has also completed fellowships at Georgetown and the University of California Irvine.
Angie has been a full-scope midwife since 2009. She has experience in various birth settings including home, hospital, and birth centers. She is committed to integrating the midwifery model of care in the US. She completed her master’s degree in nurse-midwifery at Frontier Nursing University (FNU) and her Doctorate at Johns Hopkins University. She currently serves as the midwifery clinical faculty at FNU. Angie is motivated by the desire to improve the quality of healthcare and has led quality improvement projects on skin-to-skin implementation, labor induction, and improving transfer of care practices between hospital and community midwives. In 2017, she created a short film on skin-to-skin called 
Justin C. Daily, BSN, RN, has ten years of experience in nursing. At the start of his nursing career, Justin worked as a floor nurse on the oncology floor at St. Francis. He then spent two years as the Director of Nursing in a small rural Kansas hospital before returning to St. Francis and the oncology unit. He has been in his current position as the Chemo Nurse Educator for the past four years. He earned an Associate in Nurse from Hutchinson Community College and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Bethel College.
Brandy Jackson serves as the Director of Undergraduate Nursing Programs and Assistant Educator at Wichita State University and Co-Director of Access in Nursing. Brandy is a seasoned educator with over 15 years of experience. Before entering academia, Brandy served in Hospital-based leadership and Critical Care Staff nurse roles. Brandy is passionate about equity in nursing education with a focus on individuals with disabilities. Her current research interests include accommodations of nursing students with disabilities in clinical learning environments and breaking down barriers for historically unrepresented individuals to enter the nursing profession. Brandy is also actively engaged in Interprofessional Education development, creating IPE opportunities for faculty and students at Wichita State. Brandy is an active member of Wichita Women for Good and Soroptimist, with the goal to empower women and girls. Brandy is a TeamSTEPPS master trainer. She received the DASIY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Faculty in 2019 at Wichita State University. 
Dr. Sabrina Ali Jamal-Eddine is an Arab-disabled queer woman of color with a PhD in Nursing and an interdisciplinary certificate in Disability Ethics from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). Dr. Jamal-Eddine’s doctoral research explored spoken word poetry as a form of critical narrative pedagogy to educate nursing students about disability, ableism, and disability justice. Dr. Jamal-Eddine now serves as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in UIC’s Department of Disability and Human Development and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities (NOND). During her doctoral program, Sabrina served as a Summer Fellow at a residential National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute at Arizona State University (2023), a summer fellow at Andrew W. Mellon’s National Humanities Without Walls program at University of Michigan (2022), a Summer Research Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute (2021), and an Illinois Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) trainee (2019-2020).
Vanessa Cameron works for Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nursing Education & Professional Development. She is also attending George Washington University and progressing towards a PhD in Nursing with an emphasis on ableism in nursing. After becoming disabled in April 2021, Vanessa’s worldview and perspective changed, and a recognition of the ableism present within healthcare and within the culture of nursing was apparent. She has been working since that time to provide educational foundations for nurses about disability and ableism, provide support for fellow disabled nursing colleagues, and advocate for the disabled community within healthcare settings to reduce disparities.
Dr. Lucinda Canty is a certified nurse-midwife, Associate Professor of Nursing, and Director of the Seedworks Health Equity in Nursing Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Columbia University, a master’s degree from Yale University, specializing in nurse-midwifery, and a PhD from the University of Connecticut. Dr. Canty has provided reproductive health care for over 29 years. Her research interests include the prevention of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, reducing racial and ethnic health disparities in reproductive health, promoting diversity in nursing, and eliminating racism in nursing and midwifery.
Dr. Lisa Meeks is a distinguished scholar and leader whose unwavering commitment to inclusivity and excellence has significantly influenced the landscape of health professions education and accessibility. She is the founder and executive director of the DocsWithDisabilities Initiative and holds appointments as an Associate Professor in the Departments of Learning Health Sciences and Family Medicine at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Nikia Grayson, DNP, MSN, MPH, MA, CNM, FNP-C, FACNM (she/her) is a trailblazing force in reproductive justice, blending her expertise as a public health activist, anthropologist, and family nurse-midwife to champion the rights and health of underserved communities. Graduating with distinction from Howard University, Nikia holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in public health. Her academic journey also led her to the University of Memphis, where she earned a master’s in medical anthropology, and the University of Tennessee, where she achieved both a master’s in nursing and a doctorate in nursing practice. Complementing her extensive education, she completed a post-master’s certificate in midwifery at Frontier Nursing University.
Dr. Tia Brown McNair is the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, DC. She oversees both funded projects and AAC&U’s continuing programs on equity, inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, and student success. McNair directs AAC&U’s Summer Institutes on High-Impact Practices and Student Success, and TRHT Campus Centers and serves as the project director for several AAC&U initiatives, including the development of a TRHT-focused campus climate toolkit. She is the lead author of From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education (January 2020) and Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success (July 2016 and August 2022 Second edition).