Reproaction Promotes Awareness and Public Education at Kansas City Maternal and Infant Mortality Event

| Reproaction

By: Evonnia Woods

On January 27, Reproaction hosted our fifth maternal and infant mortality screening event at Uzazi Village in Kansas City, MO. The event was organized in partnership with Uzazi Village, Reale Justice Network, One Struggle KC, and ACLU-MO to host the well-attended event. Over fifty people showed up to learn more about Missouri’s shameful maternal and infant mortality rates. We screened Fusion TV Network’s documentary, The Naked Truth: Death By Delivery, which highlights the troubling racial health disparities between Black women and their babies and white women and their babies. On average, Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy complications, and Black babies are twice as likely to die in their first year of life.

The panel discussion that followed the film created a learning environment that drew attention to the need for both individual and systemic solutions. Special thanks to the moderator, Cecilia Belser-Patton, a prominent board member of Uzazi Village, and the four panelists who spent their Saturday afternoon raising awareness and educating people who reside in the Kansas City area: Hakima Payne, Executive Director of Uzazi Village; Justice Gatson, Doula and ACLU-MO Organizer; Dr. Traci Johnson, physician at Truman Medical Center; and Melissa Robinson, President of the Black Healthcare Coalition.

For more information about the Missouri Infant and Maternal Mortality campaign, visit our campaign page.

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