Abstract
Beyond Survival: Activating Community Birth Workers for Climate Resilience - A national webinar series
APHA 2025 Annual Meeting and Expo
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