“Black birth workers are the essence of community healing and the key to advancing health outcomes for Black birthing families.”
Black Maternal Health Week is a week-long campaign founded by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance to uplift the voices, lived experiences, and leadership of Black mamas and birthing people through awareness, advocacy, and community-building.
As we step into BMHW26, we are also celebrating 10 years in the Black Maternal Health Movement, ten years of organizing, truth-telling, care, and community-led solutions rooted in reproductive and birth justice.
Each year, beginning April 11 during National Minority Health Month and aligned with the International Day for Maternal Health and Rights, we join organizations across the globe in demanding an end to maternal mortality and advancing the rights, dignity, and joy of Black families.
As a proud partner of the Black Mamas Matter Alliance, Oshun Family Center has had the honor of serving as a Philadelphia regional leader in planning and implementing Black Maternal Health Week programming year after year. This milestone is a reflection of the village of the advocates, providers, families, and community members who continue to show up, build, and believe.
Ten years in, we are still here. Still organizing. Still celebrating. And still committed to creating a future where Black mothers and families not only survive—but thrive.
2025 RECAP
Theme: Our Bodies STILL Belong to Us: Reproductive Justice, Culture, and Liberation
Black Maternal Health Week 2025, led by Oshun Family Center in partnership with the Black Mamas Matter Alliance, centered bodily autonomy, justice, and community-led solutions.
BMHW25 Impact
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400+ people served at the Community Baby Shower
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125 birth workers convened at the BMHW Brunch
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85 advocates mobilized to Harrisburg
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Launch of FADE (Fathers Actively Dedicated Everyday)
BMHW25 moved beyond awareness toward action—building momentum as we advance toward BMHW26 and a decade in the Black Maternal Health Movement.
2023 RECAP
The official theme for Black Maternal Health Week 2023: “Our Bodies Belong to Us: Restoring Black Autonomy and Joy!”
In light of the steadily alarming rise of maternal mortality in the U.S., which recent data shows has been exacerbated by the pandemic; and amidst growing cases of clear neglect in care in hospital systems immediately after labor and delivery, we continue to highlight and center culturally-congruent practices with a focus on Black Midwifery care and full-spectrum Black-led Doula care as sound, evidence-based solutions. Most importantly, these are practices and solutions that incorporate the true needs, wants, and desires of Black women and birthing people.
