TAMPA, Fla. — The fight to move the needle on the high number of Black women and babies dying during childbirth continues.

What You Need To Know

  • According to the CDC, Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy related cause than white women

  • In Hillsborough County, over a three-year period, out of 1,000 live births, about 13 Black babies died. That's more than the state’s average rate of 11

  • A Black Maternal Health town hall is set for Nov. 29, beginning at noon at the Sunshine Health Welcome Room, located at 200 W. Waters Ave. in Tampa

  • The town hall meetings are set to happen every other month until the number of deaths are reduced

  • Justice For All: More stories on breastfeeding, doulas and Black infant mortality rate

Recently, a group of stakeholders got together for a town hall to discuss how they’re going to help eliminate those numbers.

Triana Boggs was one of those people in attendance. She works as a midwife and puts a focus on the health and safety of Black mothers and their babies. She’s a nurse and runs her own mobile midwife company.

“Because we know that as women of color, we are three to four times more likely to die during childbirth than our white counterparts and that’s just a fact,” she said.

Numbers from the CDC are also similar to black infant mortality. 

Those rates are something Triana experienced firsthand when she was 16-years-old and gave birth to a baby boy.

“I had a preterm delivery. And a C-section that was pretty traumatic and then he passed away shortly after that,” she said.

Since then, she became a mother to two more children.

“I had both my other daughters once I was a nurse and still experienced some of the same issues I did when I was 16,” she said.

She said there are problems in the healthcare system. “I would say the hardest thing is I was on Medicaid at the time with my children and the care is different. It just is,” she said. “Having low-income women of color, I think, experience different things in maternity care here in the United States.”

That’s what she wanted to communicate in the town hall meeting that Xaviera Bell hosted in Tampa at the Sunshine Health Welcome Center.

“There has to be a call to action,” said Bell. “My question for you is, what are you going to do with the information that you have?”

In a room full of mothers, providers and just concerned citizens, Bell shared her story of how she lost her son Xander at birth. After his death, she created a foundation to honor him and save lives.

“We’re in the business of saving Black women and Black children. Why is that important to me? Because I had to watch my son die five years ago,” Bell said.

It’s a sad set of circumstances, she said, has become all too familiar for Black families.

“Unfortunately, we have adopted it as a birthright, just like we have adopted diabetes, just like we have adopted hypertension. This is not our birthright, this is not our portion, and this should not be happening. So, it’s important to let the community know that we know this is not normal,” said Bell.

Now she’s on a mission to prevent other mothers who look like her from experiencing the same thing she went through.

“How can we come together to make sure that when families walk in, that all of them walk out?” she said.

Using the town halls, Bell said she’s recruiting everyone she can to help save the lives of Black mothers and their babies.

“The solution to that is sitting in a seat in this room. And so, we have to come up with something, because I cannot make any more memories with my baby, but I can definitely help another mother make memories with hers,” she said.

In Hillsborough County, over a three-year period, out of 1,000 live births, about 13 Black babies died more than the state’s average rate of 11.

This town hall is going to be held every other month until the numbers reduce locally. The next town hall titled, Lessons Learned Over Lunch, is Nov. 29, from 12 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Sunshine Health Welcome Room, at 200 W. Waters Ave. in Tampa.