Striving to Create Healthier Birth Outcomes through Innovative Partnerships and Sisterhood: Early Findings from the Birthing Project Milwaukee

Infant mortality is one of the most salient measures of disparities in determining the health and social wellness of a community. In the last two decades, the state of Wisconsin has seen little improvement in the rate of African American infant deaths. In 2010, 393 Wisconsin infants died during the first year of life. Of these 247 were Caucasian and 95 were African American. While African American infants comprise only 10% of all live births in Wisconsin, they account for 24% of all deaths in the state. The purpose of this birthing project, which is modeled after the Birthing Project USA, is to pilot a psychosocial intervention program tailored for low-income, expectant African American women living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The focus is to: Pair these women with African American women from the community to provide advocacy and mentorship; evaluate program’s effectiveness, and maintain documentation for development of future interventions. While data collection is ongoing, it is imperative that we report on what we have learned thus far in efforts to contribute to the discourse on African American infant mortality. Ultimately, with the implementation of this intervention program, we expect to note an improvement in birth outcomes for this targeted population