From policy to practice: How Black leadership is helping drive maternal health change in Texas

Black History Month calls us to recognize leadership that drives real change in health across Texas.
At the beginning of February, EHF lifted up the community leadership behind Texas’ new Medicaid reimbursement law for doulas and community health workers, a policy win rooted in Black-led advocacy and designed to expand access to culturally responsive, community-based support throughout pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period.

Now, we’re focused on what it takes to turn policy into measurable change.

Recent research shows Black women experience life-threatening pregnancy complications at significantly higher rates than other women in Texas. Most pregnancy-related deaths in our state are considered preventable. These inequities are shaped by barriers to health care services, high uninsured rates, and gaps in the non-medical drivers of health that influence outcomes long before a medical emergency occurs.

Across North Texas, partners are working together through the North Texas Maternal Health Accelerator to reduce severe pregnancy complications and strengthen care coordination. Medical schools, health systems, and more than 50 community organizations are aligned around shared outcomes, beginning with postpartum hemorrhage, the region’s most common severe complication. More than 60 clinics are distributing free prenatal iron supplements that can reduce the need for blood transfusions by roughly one-third.

“This is what systems change looks like,” says Dr. Ann Barnes, EHF’s president and CEO. “Aligning community organizations, researchers, health and health care partners, philanthropy, and more all focused on tackling specific barriers to good health.”