We Need Your Support: Supporting Life for Black Mothers and their Children
Build with Humanity exists to overcome systemic inequities through equity centered design and innovation. We specialize in bringing underserved minorities into the product and service design process. We aim to target 4 key areas of inequity: Health, Education, Affordability /Financial inclusion, and Social Justice. In our first pilot project we aim to address the significant risks that African American mothers face in pregnancy. Black mothers and their children face a significantly higher risk of death during and soon after birth.
The Client
The Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), part of the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has issued an open innovation challenge to improve maternal health through technology.
The Challenge
Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy and compilations associated with pregnancy than white women. The infant mortality rate has also been an extreme concern with African American children being twice as likely to die due to complications from pregnancy.This racial disparity is actually higher than it was in 1850. The disparity in the maternal and infant mortality rate has been embedded within the legacy of racism throughout our country’s history. These inequities are due to a complex mix of socioeconomic, health, and other historical disparities African Americans have faced throughout our history in the United States.
How might we better support prenatal care for Black woman in order to improve maternal health and decrease infant mortality? How could we address the specific needs and vulnerabilities black woman face during pregnancy?
Weekly Updates
In the previous weeks we have focused on reaching out to the Austin Area community to get feedback. We also began secondary research to futher understand and define the user’s experience. We began to understand that the primary barriers to care are.
- Lack of access to respectful, culturally relevant prenatal counseling and education due to: 1.) Personal Barriers: e.g., work, childcare, transportation, education, cultural mistrust of healthcare systems, & racial stigma 2.) Health System Barriers: e.g.,uninsured, hours of operation, and lack of services
- Lack of access to support networks
Concept Iteration 1: Momentous Health
Momentous Health is a mobile application that presents personalized and culturally relevant prenatal care plans that address the unique needs that black women have before, during, and after pregnancy. Expectant mothers can enroll in materinity care plans in the context of peer support groups which provide accountability and emotional support. The plans will span from Fertility information, prenatal health, to postpartum care. The unique value proposition is that the care plans consider broader lifestyle and systemic considerations that Black women face in disproportionate numbers. (e.g. such navigating preganancy without insurance, dealing with the stress of racial stigma in maternity care, and social support in dealing with an unplanned pregnancy as a single mother). Momentous Health is designed to supplement traditional prenatal care.
Give us Feedback and Join our Community Panel
If you are interested in providing feedback for this project or want to participate in providing feedback for other future projects please fill out the following form:
Build with Humanity: General Feedback Interest Form
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