GROUNDBREAKING HEALTH TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE BIRTH OUTCOMES

GROUNDBREAKING HEALTH TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE BIRTH OUTCOMES

Detroit, MI— Black Mothers’ Breastfeeding Association (BMBFA) today announces $100,000 in funding from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund’s 2019 Community Health Impact Grant to develop a groundbreaking new mobile application to reduce preterm birth and infant mortality rates.

The project titled, “Stakeholder-Driven High-Tech Innovation Project” has a unique emphasis on parenting and breastfeeding groups with customization features for host agencies. The cutting-edge user-friendly mobile application simplifies and streamlines participant interaction, data collection and reporting activities.

The app allows group hosts to inform and drive their practices by collecting participant intake information, creating surveys for ongoing data collection, interacting with program participants and creating reports with useful output/outcome data. Program participants will further benefit from an app that gives them health/parenting/breastfeeding tips, easy sign-in access while attending groups, app notifications for meeting reminders, surveys, social media check-in and badges to post for milestone accomplishments, and in-app peer-to-peer interaction.

The app is the brainchild of Kiddada Green, founding executive director of Detroit-based BMBFA, which has run robust breastfeeding groups for over 10 years. In 2008, BMBFA created The Black Mothers’ Breastfeeding Club®, a community-centered, mother-led breastfeeding group, which is being replicated in cites across the U.S.

“Sustaining a successful parent group, requires innovative engagement beyond the meeting time,” says Green, who is also a co-founder of Black Breastfeeding Week. “Our mobile app will improve maternal-child-health outcomes by literally putting real-time monitoring and outcome reporting in your hands and by diversifying communication channels with program participants.”

Infant mortality and preterm birth rates for Detroit are higher than in other areas of Michigan. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) reports that Detroit’s infant mortality rate between years 2012-2014 is 14.5/1,000 live births. This is astoundingly higher than Michigan’s rate of 6.8/1,000 live births. Meanwhile, the black infant mortality rate is 13.3 per 1,000 live births versus 5.3 per 1,000 births for white infants.

“We view technology as a must-have tool for rethinking how we connect with, engage and empower black breastfeeding families and therefore reduce longstanding inequities in access and support,” Green said.

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About Black Mothers’ Breastfeeding Association (BMBFA)
BMBFA is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization established in 2007. BMBFA’s mission is to reduce racial inequities in breastfeeding support for black families. The mission is carried out byway of direct service, trainings, advocacy and social movement. Nationally, BMBFA is a recognized leader in the field. Amongst other distinguished work and awards, BMBFA served as a contributing expert for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention by providing recommendations for the U.S. Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding. BMBFA is nationally accredited by Health Connect One for its community-based doula program. Its signature work, Black Mothers’ Breastfeeding Club (BMBFC) is nationally replicated and has run without interruption for over 10 years. Furthermore, BMBFA is the anchor organization for the Black Breastfeeding Caucus, co-leader/creator of Black Breastfeeding Week and the Black Infant Remembrance Memorial. For more information visit www.BMBFA.org.