Black Maternal Health

Black mothers in the US die in childbirth at approximately 2.6 times the white-mother rate per CDC. The gap has not closed in decades. The interventions with documented effect are continuous labor support (the 2017 Bohren Cochrane review of 27 trials and 15,858 women showed a 25 percent cesarean reduction), early prenatal care initiation, postpartum mental-health screening, and culturally-competent provider matching. Most US states have now extended postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to 12 months. State Medicaid coverage for doula care has expanded to 15+ states. This hub covers Black maternal health with the access infrastructure that actually works: the doula directory, the Medicaid coverage tracker, the evidence base, and the providers who do this work.

The access infrastructure

The Black doula directory covers 1,000+ doulas across all 50 states with state-by-state filtering, Medicaid acceptance, and certification. The Medicaid doula coverage tracker tracks every state's reimbursement status with reimbursement rates and effective dates. The Maven Clinic review covers the most comprehensive maternal-health telehealth, typically employer-sponsored; Mahmee is the Black-founded option via Medicaid managed-care contracts.

What we cover

Preeclampsia risk and postpartum monitoring, gestational diabetes management, postpartum depression and the EPDS screening gap, the Bohren 2017 evidence base for continuous labor support, lactation access (Black women have the lowest breastfeeding initiation rate of any US group, driven primarily by structural factors), and pelvic-floor rehabilitation that standard postpartum care neglects.

Frequently asked questions

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Find a Black provider for black maternal health

Search a verified directory of Black clinicians by specialty, insurance, telehealth, and location. Filter to providers who treat conditions covered in this vertical.