Launching BA NIA’s Birth Equity Training for Hospitals
BA NIA is pleased to announce the launch of its Inclusion and Diversity Birth Equity Training for Hospitals—an urgently needed, collaborative program designed to improve maternal health outcomes and save lives. Our goal in launching this new training program is to improve the health and well-being of Black and other BIPOC birthing people and their families, who have historically faced inequities in maternal healthcare.
BA NIA's Birthing Assistants (BAs) offer crucial support to pregnant and birthing women, particularly those in BIPOC, ALANA, and LGBTQ+ communities. Our non-medically trained BAs provide continuous emotional, physical, and informational support throughout the perinatal period.
The need for our services is underscored by alarming statistics. In 2023, the US maternal mortality rate reached a new high, with the rate for Black women at 69.9 deaths per 100,000 live births. In Chicago, Black women are eight times more likely to die from a preventable pregnancy-related condition compared to non-Hispanic white women. According to the 2025 Illinois Maternal Mortality Data Report 72% of pregnancy-related deaths had “some chance” of being prevented, and 19% had a “good chance” of being prevented.
To address these disparities, BA NIA's educational team partners with hospitals’ OB-GYN staff across the state. We provide various training sessions including racial bias, trauma-informed care, and the role of birth workers. Training is in a lunch and learn format creating an informal interactive discussion and learning platform. Our aim is to foster a collaborative and culturally sensitive approach to care.
BA NIA would further support your hospital by:
• Setting-up an informational table to recruit and maintain patients as their birthing hospital of choice. This process will include disseminating information to understand the importance of childbirth education, birth planning, nutrition, self-care, neonatal and post-natal care.
• Providing Birthing Assistants (Doulas) during labor and delivery.
• Ensuring patients attend pre-and postnatal appointments.
• Recruiting participants from your community area for OB-GYN and BA NIA services.
Our goals for this project include:
• Establishing a strong working relationship between your Hospital's OB-GYN staff and BA NIA.
• Reducing medical interventions and improving birth outcomes
• Educating staff on the benefits of birthing assistant (doula) support.
• Reducing clinician apprehension about having in-room support for patients during labor and delivery.
• Setting up a referral system.
• Providing birth and postpartum support.
• Fostering stronger relationships between the community and your Hospital's OB-GYN department.
We believe that this collaboration will significantly improve maternal and infant health outcomes in our communities. By equipping hospital teams with culturally responsive tools, strengthening relationships between clinicians and community-based birth workers, and embedding continuous support into the perinatal experience, BA NIA is helping build systems where Black and BIPOC families are heard, respected, and safe. Together, we can reduce preventable deaths, improve birth outcomes, and restore trust between hospitals and the communities they serve.
Hospital administrators, OB-GYN leaders, nurses, physicians, midwives, and healthcare professionals interested in bringing BA NIA’s Inclusion and Diversity Birth Equity Training to their institution are invited to contact info@baniainc.com to learn more and schedule a training session. We welcome the opportunity to partner with you to create safer, more equitable birth experiences for every family in your care.