43: Birth Disparities for African American Moms

Jessica Diggs - Birth Disparities  Thank you Jessica for being on with us to talk about this, vital to understand and very distressing reality for pregnant and postpartum mothers. We have to be doing better by mothers. Learning from Jessica in this episode is an important part in doing better, being more aware and taking intentional steps to be more supportive to mothers. We talk about what birth disparities means, effects on pre-term labor and infant mortality, stats on birthrates and effects of disparities on African-American women and babies, how the stress of systemic racism effects health and mental health, what should we be doing differently and how can we be better support and advocate for pregnant and postpartum mothers of color.  Jessica Diggs is a DONA certified birth doula, ICEA trained childbirth educator, and NCM midwifery student. She aspires to become a midwife who works alongside the obstetric and doula communities for collaborative maternity care. Jessica provides evidence-based information to expecting families and believes in freedom of choice based on knowledge of alternatives in childbirth. Along with her birth work, Jessica is also the proud owner of a small childcare agency called Child & Friend. Find out more from Jessica here: Website: www.jessicadiggs.com Instagram: @jessicaadiggs