Black Maternal Heath Conference Raises Awareness For Pre-Natal Care
Today Women’s eNews hosted a presentation as part of their Black Maternal Health Project featuring Dr. Michael C. Lu from UCLA, Kimberly Seals Allers editorial director of the Women’s eNews and Tonya Lewis Lee spokesperson for the “Healthy Baby Begins with You” campaign.
Seals-Allers and Lewis Lee opened the conference and raised awareness about the importance of prenatal maternal care, and the need to keep exploring African American maternal health disparities.
Dr. Lu’s keynote presentation, “A Life Course Perspective” posed the question: Why do African American women have such high maternal mortality rates?
Lu addressed current problems with racial disparities in maternal and infant health including a 12-step plan to end these disparities, with preventing pre-term births at the core. He showed that many factors such as maternal stress, prenatal care, lifestyle conditions, and economic statues are all contributing factors to health complications for mothers and infants.
Look at photographs http://www.flickr.com/photos/wenews/sets/72157623951870290
Dr. Lu: Michael Lu M.D. MPH received the 2003 National Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology Young Professional Achievement Award and the 2004 American Public Health Association Maternal and Child Health Section Young Professional Award for his research on health disparities. He recently served on the
Black Maternal Health: A Legacy and a Future is a news project of Women’s eNews, a nonprofit daily news service covering issues of particular concern to women. The series includes news stories, videos, and a blog about African American women confronting striking statistics about their health as they form partnerships, become parents and care for their children.
