SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio Metro Health is taking on a big issue: Black maternal mortality rates.
On average, Black women are four times more likely to die during childbirth. Black babies face an infant mortality rate twice as high as that of white babies.
Metro Health hosted an event Thursday to ensure local Black mothers and moms-to-be have the resources and knowledge they need to buck those trends.
At the Justice and Joy Community Exchange, mothers received necessities like diapers, entered into raffles for breast pumps and strollers and met with others to swap stories and gently used baby items.
Metro Health said the event was aimed at addressing a grim statistic that has existed for decades.
Adam Barraza is a photojournalist at KSAT 12 and an El Paso native. He interned at KVIA, the local ABC affiliate, while still in high school. He then moved to San Antonio and, after earning a degree from San Antonio College and the University of the Incarnate Word, started working in news. He’s also a diehard Dodgers fan and an avid sneakerhead.