Singing for joy: Why new mothers in regional Victoria are joining choirs

A small, participant-led weekly arts and crafts group in Barrow has helped around 15 men living with mental health conditions, dementia, and autism build social connections and overcome anxiety-related challenges.

In Kern County, where pregnancy-related mortality rates are more than double the California average and Black mothers face life-threatening complications at nearly three times the rate of white women, community doulas are working to bridge the gap between patients and the medical system. Since California expanded Medi-Cal coverage to include doula services in January 2023, more than 1,400 doulas have enrolled statewide, with active training pipelines building the workforce locally.

Black parents are at greater risk of experiencing serious complications during pregnancy and childbirth, which is why preserving Black birth care, like doulas, is so important to preventing unnecessary deaths and medical interventions. The doula community is growing and there’s currently a push among local doulas and providers to grow the network of doulas of color to increase the accessibility of relevant and representative birth care.

In rural areas where obstetric care is hard to access, Indigenous women are opting for traditional birthing practices and building a community around pregnancy and childbirth education. Groups like the He Sapa Birth Circle and the Great Plains Tribal Leaders’ Health Board provide spaces for Indigenous parents to seek advice, receive support and education and get connected with traditional care options.

Buena Semilla is a group that connects local women living with trauma and mental health issues to share their experiences and build relationships with one another through workshops and sharing circles. More than 300 women participate in sharing circles each week, connecting over meals, guided meditations, breathing exercises and skill-building like weaving.

An Israeli Facebook group serves as a women's network for current or former prostitutes seeking help and support. The Hebrew-language group, called Lo Omdot Mineged, provides help in many forms, ranging from crowdsourcing money for groceries to building alliances with women struggling to find work outside of prostitution.

Black Girls Break Bread addresses maternal mortality disparities among Black women by providing safe spaces, advocating for policy reform and improving local healthcare access. The group successfully advocated for Illinois House Bill 5013, expanding Medicaid patients' freedom to choose healthcare providers, reducing barriers to accessing care. Beyond maternal health care, the group also addresses other community needs like mutual aid and mental health issues among Black women.

Attorneys and activists in Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina used a multipronged approach to legalize abortion that included grassroots organizing, strategically initiating lawsuits, and changing cultural narratives. The last part was key to the movements’ successes because changing the laws without changing the cultural understanding of abortion as a normal part of healthcare can lead to laws not being implemented or being overturned, like what happened in the United States in 2022.

Hacey Health Initiative and Alabiyamo Maternal and Child Healthcare Foundation are improving maternal and newborn health in rural communities. The groups have provided more than 50,000 birthing kits containing sterilized tools and other essentials and handed out over 100,000 long-lasting treated nets to prevent malaria. Women and infants can get medications and important vaccinations, along with clothes and baby food. The care is free and the groups work with community gatekeepers, like leaders in local markets, midwives, and other traditional birthing assistants, whose buy in is important to build trust.

Maternal Expert Thinking Analyzer is a pilot project to prevent maternal mortality that uses a mobile diagnostic, training, and outreach application to help midwives assess the risk of their patients in rural areas. Midwives input data collected from pregnant mothers into the app and generate an automated risk-based assessment score. The pregnant mother then receives a text with advice based on her risk level. A total of 33 midwives across 14 regions are trained to use the app. Initial results indicate that the app has had positive results preventing maternal mortality and even increasing antenatal care.