Black Maternal Health Week is an annual awareness campaign held April 11 through 17, founded and led by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA). It falls during National Minority Health Month and begins on April 11 to coincide with the International Day for Maternal Health and Rights. The week centers the voices and lived experiences of Black mothers and birthing people, with a focus on the stark racial disparities in maternal mortality that persist in the United States.
Why the Week Exists
The numbers behind Black Maternal Health Week are difficult to ignore. According to 2024 data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, Black women in the U.S. die from pregnancy-related causes at a rate of 44.8 per 100,000 live births. That is three times the rate for white women, which stands at 14.2 per 100,000. This gap has persisted for decades and has not shown statistically significant improvement in recent years.
These deaths are not driven by any single medical cause. Research points to a web of factors rooted in systemic racism: implicit bias within the healthcare system, reduced access to reproductive care, higher rates of being uninsured, and the cumulative toll of lifelong exposure to racial discrimination. Researchers describe this cumulative toll as “weathering,” the idea that chronic stress from racism physically degrades health over time, making pregnancy riskier regardless of a woman’s income or education level.
The disparities also trace back to structural conditions that shaped Black communities over generations. Policies like redlining, Jim Crow-era segregation, and unequal access to the GI Bill created lasting gaps in housing stability, neighborhood safety, food access, and proximity to quality healthcare. People carry these histories in their bodies. Early-life and intergenerational trauma influence health risks decades later, and the COVID-19 pandemic further widened those gaps by compounding existing social and economic stressors.
Who Founded It and When
The Black Mamas Matter Alliance created Black Maternal Health Week as a campaign to channel awareness into activism and community building. BMMA is a national organization that advances Black maternal health, rights, and justice, and it uplifts the work of locally based, Black women-led maternal health initiatives across the country. The week’s fixed dates, April 11 to 17, were chosen deliberately to align with both National Minority Health Month and the global advocacy happening around the International Day for Maternal Health and Rights on April 11.
In April 2021, President Biden issued the first-ever presidential proclamation formally recognizing Black Maternal Health Week, making it part of a broader White House effort to address racial disparities in maternal mortality. That federal recognition elevated the week’s visibility, though the grassroots campaign had already been building momentum through BMMA’s network of community organizations for years prior.
What Happens During the Week
Each year, BMMA announces an official theme that frames the week’s programming and advocacy. In 2024, the theme was “Our Bodies STILL Belong to Us: Reproductive Justice NOW!” Themes typically connect maternal health to broader issues of bodily autonomy, healthcare access, and racial justice.
Events range from community health fairs and wellness walks to panel discussions, social media campaigns, and policy briefings. In 2026, for example, BMMA is hosting a Black Maternal Health Walk and Community Fair in Atlanta on April 11, featuring yoga, music, family activities, and free maternal health resources. Dozens of organizations across the country hold their own local events during the week, from doula meet-and-greets to storytelling sessions where Black mothers share their birth experiences.
The week also serves as a mobilization point for advocacy. Organizations use the heightened attention to push for legislative action, increased funding for community-based maternal health programs, and expanded access to midwifery and doula care in underserved areas.
Policy Efforts Tied to the Movement
The most prominent piece of legislation connected to Black maternal health advocacy is the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act, a comprehensive bill that has been introduced in Congress multiple times. The bill bundles together a range of proposals: extending postpartum eligibility for nutrition assistance programs, increasing federal research and data collection on maternal health, addressing the effects of climate change on pregnancy outcomes, improving maternal care for incarcerated people (including limiting the use of restraints during pregnancy), and expanding public education around maternal vaccinations.
As of the most recent congressional session, the Momnibus Act remained in committee and had not been passed into law. Still, individual provisions from the bill have influenced state-level policy changes and Medicaid expansions for postpartum coverage, which several states have adopted independently.
The Role of Community-Based Care
A central message of Black Maternal Health Week is that better outcomes require more than clinical interventions. BMMA and its partner organizations advocate for community-based care models led by Black women, including midwives, doulas, lactation consultants, and peer support networks. These models emphasize continuity of care, cultural competence, and trust, factors that research consistently links to improved maternal outcomes.
Access to these services remains uneven. Many Black women live in maternity care deserts, areas with no birthing hospitals, no OB-GYNs, and no certified midwives within a reasonable distance. Black Maternal Health Week puts a spotlight on this gap and directs people toward organizations working to fill it, whether through training more Black birth workers, funding community health centers, or advocating for insurance coverage of doula services.