Members of the Black Maternity Matters collaborative are celebrating after scooping the award for ‘Community Project Impact’ at the prestigious Black Maternal Health Awards UK 2025.
Held in London on Saturday 22 March to celebrate excellence across maternal healthcare, The Black Maternal Health Awards were hosted by The Motherhood Group.
Black women in the UK remain more likely to experience serious maternal health and mental health complications. These awards have been established to recognise the dedicated individuals and organisations working hard to transform these statistics.
Our Black Maternity Matters training and education programme is supporting perinatal teams to reduce the inequitable maternity outcomes faced by Black mothers and their babies.
The collaborative was established in 2021 by Health Innovation West of England, BCohCo, Representation Matters and Black Mothers Matter, working closely with the maternal and neonatal community across the region. Find out more about Black Maternity Matters here.
Aisha Thomas, Director of Representation Matters, said: “This collaboration was born from a shared commitment to improving outcomes for Black mothers and birthing people. It’s a partnership rooted in lived experience, advocacy, cultural humility, and anti-racist practice.
“To be recognised in this way is deeply affirming – not just for the work we’ve done, but for the work still to come. Black Maternity Matters because our lives matter. Our births matter. Our stories matter. To everyone who’s been part of this journey, this award is for us.”
Katie Donovan-Adekanmbi, Director of BCohCo, said: “It was a humbling and inspiring moment to stand alongside incredible peers who are all making meaningful change in this vital, self-organising space.
“Over the past four years, we’ve worked tirelessly, reaching over 900 NHS and partnership staff across the South West, with more than 300 completing our six-month programme in anti-racist practice in maternity. We are building the critical mass necessary to challenge health inequalities and reduce mortality rates for Black and Brown mums, birthers, and their babies.
“This recognition isn’t just a milestone: it’s a testament to the power of persistence, unity, and the unwavering commitment to justice. Together, we’re reshaping systems, relationships, and practices to create a future where every mum, birther, and baby receives the care, respect, and dignity they deserve.”
Sonah Paton, Managing Director of Black Mothers Matter, said: “We talk about the importance of lived experience and this project is a demonstration of that power. From an insight generated from our incredible community of Black women, to an idea for a different approach – we started with a local pilot and are now an award winning project with national recognition.
“Black Maternity Matters is a testament to the power of truly meaningful interdisciplinary collaboration. We have demonstrated how you can build something bigger than the sum of individual parts and that change is possible and coming.”
Aisha Thomas and Sonah Paton were also guest speakers at the Black Maternal Health Conference, held in London the previous day. Sonah took part in a panel discussion on community-led initiatives and grassroot solutions, while Aisha Thomas gave a keynote talk on why representation truly matters: an anti-racist approach.
Ann Remmers, Health Innovation West of England’s Maternity and Neonatal Clinical Lead, said: “Black Maternity Matters started as a germ of an idea in 2021 to make a tangible and lasting difference to Black mothers’ experience of our maternity services and the appalling statistics on outcomes we were seeing year on year. The original idea developed through our conversations and collaboration with Black Mothers Matter, BCohCo and Representation Matters and our Local Maternity and Neonatal Systems, while the Health Foundation provided us with the opportunity for funding for our pilot.
“Without this collaboration and partnership, Black Maternity Matters wouldn’t be the success it is and continues to be.
“Now with over 300 participants taking part over the last three years, Black Maternity Matters goes from strength to strength. Every single person who has taken part or contributes to the Black Maternity Matters programme is a winner of this wonderful award from The Motherhood Group.”
In the photo are (clockwise from left): Ruby Jackson, Katie Donovan-Adekanmbi, Ann Remmers, Lateesha Osborne, Ruth Butler, Noshin Emamiannaenini-Menzies, Aisha Thomas and Sonah Paton.
Posted on March 26, 2025
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