"Nothing About Us Without Us"

Isioma is running the Glasgow half marathon in October 2023 to raise awareness and money to tackle maternal health inequalities in ethnic minority womxn in Scotland.

Women of African descent (ancestral links to Africa regardless of their place of birth or nationality) desire and aspire for positive pregnancies and births and to raise their children in healthy communities. Pregnancy and birthing in the UK is relatively safe. Yet in 2023, ethnic minority women and their babies continue to endure negative health outcomes and experiences which are preventable, unfair, and unjust.

The “ Nothing About Us, Without Us” initiative is a community collaboration between the Edinburgh-based charity KWISA and NHS Lothian Maternity Voices Partnerships. It aims to promote positive pregnancy and birth outcomes and experiences for womxn of African descent(WAD) and their babies by focusing on community education, participation & accountable co-production that is asset-framed, culturally informed and empowering for communities.

This initiative's specific objectives include:

1) To increase the valued participation of ethnic minority womxn in the Lothian Maternity Voices Partnership.

2) Use a community culturally informed education model to promote bi-directional learning between ethnic minority service users and NHS maternity service providers.

3) Explore consensus on co-production within WAD communities, which may facilitate beneficial co-design within NHS Lothian.

4) Encourage reflexive learning for future initiatives engaging other minoritised communities also impacted by maternity inequities in Scotland.

Interested in learning more?

Contact KWISA: admin@kwisa.org.uk or join the mailing list HERE.

KWISA - is a CIC based in Edinburgh, Scotland, established a decade ago, for the development and empowerment of womxn of African descent and their families to achieve their full potential in the community and society in Scotland, the UK and the rest of Africa.

Lothian Maternity Voices Partnership - The MVP is a unique group where the families who use maternity and neonatal services and those working for NHS Lothian get together to review these services. The charities and organisations that support families are also represented. We all work together in partnership to make improvements where these are needed.