<p>Did you know that, 65% of all pregnancy related deaths are preventable? 90% of deaths related to pregnancy related hemorrhages are preventable and that black women are <strong>243%</strong> more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications. In today’s episode we are joined by&nbsp;Dr. Amutah-Onukagha, the&nbsp;<em>Julia A. Okoro</em> <em>Professor</em>&nbsp;of Black Maternal Health in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine.&nbsp;Dr. Amutah currently researches maternal health disparities, reproductive health and social justice, infant mortality, and HIV/AIDs in Black women.</p> <p>Dr. Amutah is a&nbsp;best-selling&nbsp;author with over 45 manuscripts, 5 book chapters, and a textbook on culturally responsive evaluation, also serves on the&nbsp;editorial&nbsp;board for the Journal of Women’s Health Issues. She is a&nbsp;TedX&nbsp;speaker—her work has been featured in The Atlantic and The Lancet. Dr. Amutah is the Founder and Director of the <strong>M</strong>aternal <strong>O</strong>utcomes for <strong>T</strong>ranslational <strong>H</strong>ealth <strong>E</strong>quity <strong>R</strong>esearch <strong>L</strong>ab, (MOTHER), a lab that has 35 students ranging from undergrad to postdoc with the goal of adressing maternal health disparities as experienced by Black women.</p> <p><strong>Key Takeaways:</strong></p> <ul> <li>[00:03:08]&nbsp;The controversy surrounding&nbsp;The&nbsp;Royal&nbsp;Family’s trip to the Caribbean countries.</li> <li>[00:07:35] Welcome Dr. Amutah to the show.</li> <li>[00:11:15] Dr. Amutah shares her&nbsp;Ted talk on how the system is broken and how healthcare and racism&nbsp;impact maternal&nbsp;health.</li> <li>[00:11:55] The latest data from CDC shows that our rates for preventable deaths are getting worse and the&nbsp;inequity&nbsp;gap is getting wider.</li> <li>[00:12:20] Dr. Amutah’s personal experience with loss and how it has shaped her trajectory.</li> <li>[00:13:54] How the assignment on your life is bigger than you and that no matter what you are doing, your calling will always pull you back in.</li> <li>[00:15:00] Why Dr. Amutah’s job in the healthcare&nbsp;industry&nbsp;is to hold it accountable and to train the next generation.</li> <li>[00:17:44] The most important decision that you can ever make is who you trust with your care.</li> <li>[00:23:29] The importance of having a support network and why having a doula should be a must for every pregnancy.</li> <li>[00:27:22] Dr. Amutah discuss her research study, Be A Mom Study and how important it is to find community&nbsp;led&nbsp;solutions to medical needs.</li> <li>[00:29:00] Black Maternal Health Week and why it is important that there are more black midwives in the field.</li> <li>[00:31:17] Dr. Amutah discusses&nbsp;actionable&nbsp;steps to change the current maternal mortality statics.</li> <li>[00:35:10] Is it possible to untrain racism and biases with culturally competent trainings?</li> <li>[00:42:40] How we can hold the world&nbsp;accountable&nbsp;for black maternal health. Why it is important to be selective with who we vote into power and why it is important that more black women are&nbsp;elected&nbsp;into leadership positions.</li> <li>[00:49:25] Why you have to be intentional about carving out time for yourself and the importance of self-care.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Links mentioned: </strong><a href="https://twitter.com/bmmtufts" target="_blank">Black Mothers Matter Tufts&nbsp;</a></p>