January 28, 2015
Page 9
Vancouver
East County
Beaverton
Mississippi
Alberta
North Portland
A group of women become childbirth educators through a program run by the International Center for Traditional Childbearing.
Improving childbirth
outcomes by breaking
cultural barriers
O LIVIA O LIVIA
T HE P ORTLAND O BSERVER
The International Center for Traditional Childbear-
ing is celebrating a victory, having just received a grant
for its African American Childbirth Educators Pro-
gram.
A new Train the Trainers program will help address
infant mortality within communities of color by provid-
ing increased access to culturally competent child birth
education.
“The purpose of this program is to increase the
number of African American childbirth educators in
BY
Healthy
Babies
Ahead!
the community in an effort to improve birth outcomes
through culturally competent prenatal education,” says
Shafia M. Monroe, president and founder of the Port-
land-based organization.
According to a 2011 survey, over 60 percent of black
women in Oregon do not attend childbirth education
classes.
“Child birth education classes support healthy preg-
nancy, labor, and postnatal outcomes while also provid-
ing information on strategies to reduce outcomes like
pre-mature and low birth weight babies, which is the
leading cause of African American infant mortality,”
Monroe said.
A $30,000 grant by Kaiser Permanente will support
the Train the Trainers program, a six-month process
that includes online learning and clinical experience.
One goal of the program will be for students to audit
continued
on page 16