4/11/2026
CHRISTUS Children’s raises awareness for Black Maternal Health Week, April 11-17, to highlight the critical need to address maternal health inequities and improve outcomes for Black women through awareness, education and compassionate care.
“The importance of highlighting this week is to encourage dialogue, raise awareness and stress the importance of improving health disparities,” said Dr. Lissa M. Melvin, maternal and fetal medicine specialist with CHRISTUS Children’s. “This is critical because Black women in this country have three times higher risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes compared to not only white women but to all other women.”
Black Maternal Health Week focuses on bringing attention to inequities that have resulted in significantly higher rates of pregnancy-related complications and deaths among Black women nationwide.
“What this does is start the conversation about how we can address the health crisis that’s happening and impacting Black women and their families – and ultimately create actionable change,” Melvin said.
She explained that the causes behind these outcomes are multifactorial. She notes that some of those factors include racial disparities, implicit bias and lower access to high-quality prenatal care.
“San Antonio is like other places in the country in that we do see disparities in care,” she said. “I think people realize this and are actually starting to acknowledge the variance in care and trying to come up with solutions to attack those issues.”
At CHRISTUS Children’s, Melvin said a comprehensive approach helps address social and medical factors that influence maternal health.
“We have systems in place that help to improve the overall quality of care,” she said. “These include expert treatment of chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes, maternal mental health doctors who provide care for our moms up to one year after delivery, social work services, nutrition counseling and a highly skilled labor and delivery team.”
This Black Maternal Health Week, Melvin emphasized the power of awareness as a first step toward change and the need to rebuild trust between patients and providers.
“First and foremost – all patients deserve respectful quality care,” Melvin said. “We must approach care differently, with more compassion and better listening. There’s also a need for more training on implicit bias. If you are in a system where you are not being heard, this leads to frustration and a reluctance to seek care. Understanding the tremendous impact of acknowledging the ongoing disparities is the first step in improving the trust that our patients have in us.”
Learn more about CHRISTUS Children’s Women’s and Newborn Center, where you can deliver your baby.
