“Actually, I was at the doctor’s office and another participant kinda of just came up, and said, ‘have you heard about the program?’ And I told her I had not and that day, I came out and signed up for the program," says Antelope Valley resident, Nakia Hunter.
Nakia has two older children, but will soon be a mom again to a baby boy already named Immanuel. She’s participating in the Black Infant Health Program.
“It’s helped me to interact with other women, know that I’m not alone, many of the struggles of being a parent, and just as an African-American woman, being able to speak with other women.”
The Black Infant Health Program aims to improve the health of African-American women and their babies, as well as reduce racial disparities by empowering women to make healthy choices.
“What the data shows is that generationally, African-American women have stressors that are contributing to preterm labor. We have maternal death, and many of the infants do not survive through their first birthday," says Francine Autry-Scott, Community Outreach Liaison for the Antelope Valley's Black Infant Health Program.
“We don’t know why, again, it could be poverty. It could be a number of social-economics, just, it could be a number of reasons, education, resources," says Jill Elam, Program Supervisor for the Antelope Valley Black Infant Health Program.
To fight back, Black Infant Health offers ten weeks of prenatal, and ten weeks of postnatal classes, plus, goal setting and life planning for pregnant African-American moms. Formerly with the Antelope Valley Partners for Health, the Black Infant Health Program recently became part of the Children’s Bureau.
Autry-Scott explains, "we started our first group sessions in March of this year. We’ve had three overlapping sessions of about eight to ten ladies each, so about 24 ladies so far" and 24 babies.
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