Despite years of efforts in Baltimore and around the country, Black women remain more than three times as likely as white women to die from pregnancy-related causes. But researchers at Morgan State University are pretty sure they know a way to reduce the disparities.

They want to train more doulas from Black communities.

A panel of federal and local leaders announced Wednesday that Morgan would have the chance to build a program for these nonmedical professionals who provide information, support and advocacy for pregnant women and new moms. They would also coordinate a national five-year effort to create and research an array of ways to tackle systemic barriers to equitable and life-saving health care for moms and babies.

“We are going out in the community; this is applied research,” said Kesha Baptiste-Roberts, a researcher and associate professor in the public health program at Morgan’s School of Community Health and Policy.

“Doulas are welcomed when people learn all they can do to support and advocate for pregnant people,” she said.

Morgan will coordinate the national research network of 16 sites, largely historically Black colleges and universities, announced by Xavier Becerra, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, at Healthy Start Inc., a federally funded Baltimore center providing services to normally underserved women during and after pregnancy.

It’s part of a $90 million federal allocation, including about $8.7 million in Maryland, that will fund other Healthy Start programs, expand the maternal health workforce, increase access to maternity care in underserved areas and address maternal depression, among other services.

The story continues at the Baltimore Banner: Morgan State U. will lead a national research network to curb deaths of Black moms

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