News
A worthy cause - did you know that African American women receiving prenatal care at The Birth Place birthing center in 2007 had no premature or low-birth weight babies? The average baby weighed 7lbs 7ozs and was born around the 39th week of pregnancy. Nationally Black women have twice as many babies born too soon, too small and too sick to survive their first year of life as White babies. WE NEED YOUR HELP TO CONTINUE THIS WORK. Read on.............
Gabrielle Finley | Sentinel Staff Writer | April 23, 2008
Read the original article at the Orlando Sentinel
Programs help at-risk moms-to-be, to give children a better chance.
SANFORD - Shanette Lee thought hope was around the corner.
Her life had not been easy. Brushes with the law landed her in prison for a few years.
Then a relationship in New Jersey went sour, causing Lee, 29 and three months pregnant, to head to relatives in Sanford. But things got worse, and Lee ended up at a homeless shelter, rationing the prenatal vitamins she got back in New Jersey.
Global Impact of HIV/AIDS on Women
Of the estimated 39.5 million people living with HIV in 2006, 17.7 million (45%) were women. Women are most severely affected by AIDS in places where heterosexual contact is the dominant mode of transmission. According to the WHO, most women become infected through their partner’s high-risk behavior, which they have little or no control over. Women who are financially dependent on male partners are at a disadvantage in negotiating condom use.
For more information on the global impact of HIV/AIDS on women see the AIDS Epidemic Update, December 2006
Premature births account for more than 30 percent of infant deaths, scientists say
The Associated Press
ATLANTA – Scientists now say a third of infant deaths are due to premature births — a much larger percentage than previously thought.
In the past, "preterm birth" has been the listed cause of death in fewer than 20 percent of newborn fatalities. But that number should be 34 percent or more, said researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That's because at least a dozen causes of newborn death are actually problems that go hand-in-hand with premature births, such as respiratory distress syndrome caused by underdeveloped lungs.
Bahama Village midwife delivered more than 100 babies
BY MANDY BOLENCitizen Staff
KEY WEST
The 200 block of Truman Avenueis a study in contrasts. A Hummer is parked along the curb while rusting tin roofs cover parts of the few houses not yet bought, renovated and sold. The aged Bethel AME Church endures at the entrance to the block, but in the middle, old homes are becoming new condominiums and the ceaseless thunder of power tools rattle Mary Weech's jalousies, making it difficult for the 76-year-old woman to hear her telephone ring.
Click here for a series of pitures of Coretta Scott Kings funeral.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/4691604.stm
Click below for an obituary to Mrs. King
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4666222.stm
News Articles
http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/sayitloud/hutchinson203
http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/scottking208
Video clip of Rosa Parks memorial service 10/30/05.
More Links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/4401576.stm
DOH ANNOUNCES DECREASE IN HIV CASES AMONG BLACKS
--Efforts of the many heroic community based programs result in a Phenomenal Decrease--
Tallahassee - Today, June 17, 2005,Florida Department of Health (DOH) Secretary John O. Agwunobi, M.D., M.B.A., M.P.H., announced a 30 percent decrease over the past six years of HIV cases among blacks in Florida. HIV cases in Florida have dropped 24 percent among black men and 36 percent among black women. DOH strives to cut the new HIV infection rate among blacks by half in the next few years.
“DOH is fervently working to close the gap between adequate health and Florida’s minority populations,” said Agwunobi. “The department attributes this success to our HIV prevention measures and efforts to reduce barriers to early diagnosis and increase access to quality care and treatment for all Floridians.”
