Abstract

Beyond Survival: Activating Community Birth Workers for Climate Resilience - A national webinar series

Tyra Gross, PhD, MPH1, Tiwani Oseni, MPH2, Malaika Ludman, MPH, CLC3, Twylla Dillion, PhD, MBA4 and Rachel Powell Lewis, PhD, MPH5
(1)New Orleans, LA, (2)HealthConnect One, San Pedro, CA, (3)Birthmark Doula Collective, New Orleans, LA, (4)HealthConnect One, Rochester, NY, (5)Powell Lewis Consulting, College Park, GA

APHA 2025 Annual Meeting and Expo

Background: Climate change disproportionately affects perinatal and women's health, particularly in marginalized communities, posing a significant public health challenge. Despite their critical role in community well-being, birthworkers often lack climate preparedness training. This national webinar series aimed to bridge this gap, fostering collaboration, and equipping birthworkers with climate action strategies that integrate reproductive and environmental justice within community health planning efforts.

Methods: Three virtual sessions (March-May 2024) engaged over 300 registrants nationwide using Zoom. Content included: climate change impacts on perinatal health, gaps in community preparedness, integrating perinatal needs into disaster plans, and practical sustainability strategies for birthworkers. Sessions featured panels of community experts and Q&A. Evaluation surveys assessed satisfaction and knowledge gained regarding community-based climate resilience and policy integration.

Results: Participants rated the series highly (mostly 4/5 or 5/5 for satisfaction and content). Key themes emerged: birthworkers' essential role in climate resilience, the need for increased cross-sector collaboration, disproportionate impacts on marginalized communities, practical strategies, and the intersection of reproductive and environmental justice. Takeaways emphasized including community birthworkers in emergency response planning, and the importance of local advocacy and coalition-building for integrating perinatal needs into disaster preparedness efforts.

Conclusions: Climate change is a national priority. This series demonstrates the effectiveness of online platforms for disseminating vital climate resilience information to community birthworkers. It lays groundwork for further advocacy and policy development to integrate climate considerations into perinatal care. Future efforts should prioritize community-driven interventions, empowering birthworker leadership in climate action, and expanding training to ensure equitable, climate-resilient community health.

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs Environmental health sciences Other professions or practice related to public health Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs