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Black Maternal Health Week 2025 is not only a time to raise awareness, but a moment to demand urgent, coordinated action to address the maternal health crisis that disproportionately affects Black women in Mississippi and across this nation.
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., through our international partnership with March of Dimes and our local initiatives in the Rho Iota Zeta Chapter based in Mendenhall, MS, has long been committed to improving the health and survival of Black mothers and their babies. The alarming statistics confronting our community are deeply personal—and deeply unjust.
According to the Mississippi State Department of Health’s 2025 Maternal Mortality Report, 83% of pregnancy-related deaths in Mississippi from 2017 to 2021 were preventable. Black women accounted for nearly 78% of these deaths, and many of these losses stemmed from treatable conditions such as cardiovascular disease, preeclampsia, and mental health disorders .
These findings mirror what we know from the March of Dimes’ 2024 Report Card, which gave Mississippi an “F” for maternal and infant health. With one of the highest preterm birth rates and maternal mortality rates in the country, our state sits at the epicenter of a public health emergency.
The contributing factors—limited access to quality prenatal and postpartum care, mental health stigmas, and structural barriers like Medicaid gaps—require more than awareness. They require bold leadership, community mobilization, and legislative reform.
Through our partnership with March of Dimes, we are committed to grassroots education, advocacy, and sisterhood support to ensure that no woman in our community walks through pregnancy alone. We host awareness walks, health fairs, and public policy forums to engage our community and ensure that Black maternal health remains a top priority.
Our chapter supports the Mississippi Maternal Mortality Review Committee’s urgent recommendations: expand Medicaid, strengthen cultural competency in healthcare, enforce early postpartum follow-up protocols, and ensure mental health and domestic violence screenings are standard practices. These changes save lives.
We also proudly stand with our Chapter Social Action Committee Chair, Representative Zakiya Summers, in her policymaking work centered on Black maternal health. Her leadership at the State Capitol exemplifies our shared commitment to advocacy that is rooted in service, scholarship, sisterhood, and finer womanhood.
To the families who have suffered the unspeakable loss of a mother, we honor your grief with our fight. To policymakers, we urge you to legislate with compassion and courage. To every woman in Mississippi—especially Black women—we see you, we believe you, and we stand with you.
Sandrena Durr is the Executive Board Chair for the Mighty Mississippi Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. and Rho Iota Zeta Chapter President. Takenya Singleton is Chapter Vice President.
