What Black Maternal Health Awareness Week demands of all of us (20 April 2026)

Summary

This week is Black Maternal Health Awareness Week. Black women in the UK are still four times more likely to die in pregnancy and childbirth than white women. In this article, Sandra Igwe, Founder of the Motherhood Group, says Black Maternal Health Awareness Week is not a PR moment. It is a reckoning.

For generations, Black women have been told, implicitly and explicitly, that they are built differently. That they can handle more. That their pain is manageable. That asking for help is weakness. That speaking up is aggression. This is not a cultural truth. It is a stereotype, and it is one that has been absorbed into healthcare systems in ways that cost lives.

Further reading on the hub:

• House of Lords roundtable on Independent National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation: reflections from The Motherhood Group
• Addressing critical gaps in Black maternal mental healthcare: a new partnership project is launched (interview with Sandra Igwe)