A new educational campaign launched on Jan. 28 to improve maternal and birth health for African Americans living in San Diego County is supporting the existing San Diego Perinatal Equity Initiative.
The new Black Legacy Now campaign is a county initiative from the Health and Human Services Agency.
One of its goals is to reduce the number of Black infants who die at birth. According to county statistics, those infants are three times likely to die when born compared to white babies.
Perinatal Equity Initiative's goals are to "address the causes of persistent inequality and identify best practices, promote the use of specific interventions designed to fill gaps in current programming, provide funding to county health departments to promote leadership and coordination for widespread and lasting change in public awareness," the county said through its County News Center.
Dr. Kelly Elmore, an obstetrics-gynecology physician, who is a member of the Perinatal Equity Initiative Community Advisory Board, said during the live-streamed announcement of Black Legacy Now that San Diego County has more patients than doctors.
"This disparity creates barriers that make it difficult for all families to access high quality, evidence-based care," Elmore said. "It has been tough to get black physicians to work in San Diego due to the high cost of living and lack of support networks."
Elmore said several steps could be taken to end the disparity gap, such as eliminating racism, addressing the historical mistreatment of minorities and educating providers and patients about certain health issues.
She also said there should be "training of our first responders to respond without judgment."
"We need to increase coverage of health and wellness programs to reduce chronic disease and stress. We need to increase access to and financial coverage of birth centers, midwives and trained doulas. We need remote patient monitoring," Elmore said.
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