KANSAS CITY, Mo — Ask a Black woman about their pregnancy experience, and their answers might follow a trend.
"With my first, I ended up getting induced," said Daysha Lewis, a doula at Uzazi Village. "It turned out to be coded as a voluntary induction, but it was explained as a necessary medical induction. I had a postpartum hemorrhage and almost died from it."
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Another mother, Nadirah Muhammad, is originally from New Jersey.
Muhammad was living in West Africa when she found out she was pregnant with her third child.
"Same stories we hear here — death, but it was worse," Muhammad said. "Women going back and forth to hospitals, dying on the way. No blood because of the lack of blood banks."
Research over the years from health organizations like the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Bureau of Family Health, reveals Black women have high maternal mortality rates.
According to the MDHSS report, Black mothers in Missouri have the highest rates of hypertension and they are three times more likely to die within a year of pregnancy compared to white women.
Mental health conditions, including substance abuse disorders, were the leading underlying cause of pregnancy-related deaths, followed by cardiovascular disease and homicides.
"The gaps are ubiquitous and universal," said Hakima Payne, CEO and co-founder of Uzazi Village. "Our system of healthcare is not responsive appropriately to Black and brown women, and it's often grounded in racial stereotypes."
A former labor and delivery nurse herself, Payne said she saw inequities in the quality of care for Black women. That's why she helped establish Uzazi Village.
The organization is research-based and it provides a unique set of services including midwives, mental health resources, a herbalist, on-site dental care and lactation services.
"We just want to see a healthier community, and Missouri does a particularly poor job caring for Black and brown mothers." Payne said.
There are a lot of mothers behind the push to changing the health care system and outcomes for women of color.
"I can see it's not easy on either end," Muhammad said. "Being a Black woman trying to give birth and on the other end being a Black woman trying to help Black women have a safe birth."
Even if it's not at Uzazi, sometimes you need a village that's been there.
"I'm just somebody from this little neighborhood," Lewis said. "I grew up around this corner, and there's people in here who look like me."
Uzazi Village will turn 13 years old next month.
The nonprofit has a clothing closet they open to the public and a partnership with a disposable diaper distributor for mothers who need help.
They also partnered with the city last year for The Doula Initiative, which offers free doulas for expecting mothers with a Kansas City zip code.
They will be one of the organizations hosting Missouri's first Black Maternal Health Summit during Black Maternal Health Week. It's from April 16-17 in Columbia.
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