What is Faith for a Safe Start?
FaithAction, in collaboration with faith and health leaders, is developing a national maternity inequalities campaign! This campaign, Faith for a Safe Start, will encourage collaboration with faith leaders, faith communities, and the health system in supporting projects to tackle these inequalities, recognising the role of faith in the pregnancy journey. It will be accompanied by the publication of a toolkit of the same name, which will offer key information and practical guidance on what can be done locally.
On Monday 9th September, to begin Faith in Partnership Week, FaithAction held an event at the House of Lords bringing together a range of national partners to discuss the upcoming campaign and toolkit.
The Bishop of London, Dame Sarah Mullally chaired and opened the event. She stressed the need to involve faith groups into efforts to reduce these issues, because many people in these communities are active in their faith.
... I have committed to work with them to try and bring that more systematic involvement of faith groups in the provision of health and care because I believe it’s not just good for faith groups and communities but also for the NHS and local government ...”
Wendy Olayiwola, the Maternal Lead for Equity in NHS England, outlined the ongoing differences in maternity care for BAME mothers compared to others, including higher rates of premature birth, infant mortality for black babies, and increased rates of gestational diabetes for Asian women. Wendy emphasized the crucial role faith leaders play in bridging gaps with maternity services, as those same faith leaders often have the trust of their communities.
“That culturally sensitive care, that personalised care, is key ... the women in front of us, as healthcare professionals, are the experts, they are the experts of their pregnancy. We need to listen to them, we need to hear them.”
Kate Brintworth, Chief Midwifery Officer for England, discussed the need for an anti-racism framework and leadership development to address inequalities. Listening to voices at every level to build solutions is critical for reducing disparities.
"Faith is the rock in many people’s lives, it guides their decisions, their actions, their thoughts, their feelings ... their sense of self ... Wendy made light of her pastor being the first person to know she was pregnant, but actually, that was the right thing for her in that circumstance and it’s not for anyone else to say that’s not the right thing to do."
Jeremy Simmons, Policy and Programme Manager at FaithAction, detailed our work in addressing these inequalities, highlighting the need to listen to the experiences of women of faith during their maternity journeys.
“We saw such great partnership work between faith communities and health systems during the pandemic ... our initial question was: could some of the energy and ingenuity be applied to another area of longstanding inequality?”
We also heard from representatives The British Islamic Medical Association (BIMA) and Alive Church, Lincoln, who have been involved in local initiatives seeking to take this work forward.
The event provided a strong foundation for future action, with a clear focus on collaboration between faith groups and healthcare providers to ensure culturally sensitive and equitable maternity care for all.
Further key themes included:
- The need to enable the faith identity to be acknowledged in the maternity space, both for the NHS workforce, and for patients.
- A call to start talking about “faith inequalities”, not just in terms of ethnicity, deprivation, and other characteristics.
- The importance of tailored, grassroots responses, adapted to local populations and local needs.
"The conversation we’re having here must centre around faith, and that sounds obvious but when we’re talking about inequalities, the data doesn’t talk about faith ... we have to be brave enough to say this conversation needs to also be about faith."
You can read the full write-up of our event on 9th September here . Please get in touch regarding the toolkit and campaign (using our “Get Involved” form, below). We look forward to working with you all in tackling maternal inequalities and beyond!
FaithAction will be launching the campaign and toolkit in early 2025 as part of the Faith for a Safe Start initiative, which will help faith leaders engage with their communities and raise awareness of these issues, sparking opportunities to collaborate in the future.
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