March 15, 2025 Story by: Editor
Black women in the U.S. face a maternal mortality rate nearly three times higher than that of white women, according to the latest report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This disparity persists across all income and education levels. Alarmingly, Black women with at least a college degree are five times more likely to die from childbirth-related causes compared to white women with similar education.
To address this crisis, Venus Standard, along with other experts in North Carolina, is working to improve maternal health outcomes.
Introducing the LEADoula Program
Venus Standard, an assistant professor in the UNC School of Medicine’s family medicine department, co-founded the Lived Experience Accessible Doula (LEADoula) program to enhance Black maternal care. The initiative focuses on training Black doulas to provide education, advocacy, and support to Black women throughout pregnancy and childbirth.
In 2021, Standard and her co-investigators—Duke University Assistant Professor Jacquelyn McMillian-Bohler and Vanderbilt University Associate Professor Stephanie DeVane-Johnson—secured funding from Carolina’s C. Felix Harvey Award to launch a one-year pilot program. With additional backing from The Duke Endowment, they aim to expand the program across more counties in North Carolina and eventually to other states.
The Role of a Doula vs. Medical Professionals
Standard explains the critical distinction between doulas and medical professionals, stating: “An OB-GYN, a certified nurse-midwife, a certified midwife — we are all medical professionals. We are trained for years and years to do what we do. We’re trained to do medical procedures, to write prescriptions, to do assessments and care, to diagnose.”
Doulas, on the other hand, focus on non-medical support. Their primary role is to provide emotional and physical support, ensuring that birthing individuals receive the care and experience they desire. “A doula’s function is to support the person in their desire to have the birth that they want. It’s not about what the doula wants or what the doula’s history is; it’s about trying to give the person giving birth the best possible experience for what they want,” Standard explained.
Unlike doctors and midwives, doulas offer 24/7 support, staying with their clients throughout labor and providing continuous guidance—something medical professionals, with their many responsibilities, often cannot do.
The Need for Black Doulas in Maternal Care
Research has shown that having a doula improves birth outcomes and increases patient satisfaction. However, many Black women feel a deep-seated mistrust of the healthcare system due to historical and ongoing discrimination. “Historically, Black people do not trust the white medical community. They are giving their trust to the Black doulas, the doulas who look like them. We serve Black families, so they often trust their doulas to have their best interest at heart—a lot more than they trust their providers,” Standard said.
Doulas also act as a bridge between patients and healthcare providers. They listen to concerns that might otherwise go unshared and escalate potential issues when necessary. “The families tell doulas things, and the doulas are instructed to call me if something doesn’t seem right or if they’re concerned about a patient,” Standard explained. She shared an example: “I had one patient who was pregnant by rape, and that was nowhere on her medical chart, but she felt comfortable and safe enough to tell a doula.”
Expanding the LEADoula Program
In its first year, the LEADoula program trained 20 doulas. With an additional three years of funding from The Duke Endowment, they have trained 65 doulas so far, with the goal of reaching 140 trained doulas over four years.
The program also seeks to address long-standing racial disparities in maternal healthcare. “Most of the challenge of the numbers is historical; it wasn’t perceived as a problem that Black women were dying three or four times more than anybody else,” Standard noted. “The numbers are not new—the CDC has been tracking this for decades. Because people that we see on television, social media, and media outlets are bringing it to the forefront, it’s now being visited.”
Bridging the Racial Gap in Healthcare
Standard’s commitment to this work stems from the stark disparities she has witnessed firsthand in healthcare. “The disparities are so drastic. You notice as you’re going through your training, learning your work and entering the field that things are so different, that white people get offered things that Black people don’t get offered in the same exact situation,” she said.
Her team is dedicated to closing this gap and ensuring that all birthing individuals receive equitable care. “One of the reasons our team does what we do is to bring that gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ closer together. When you take away age, money or education, it doesn’t matter. The only common denominator is their race. We’ve come a long way so far with other things, but this stayed the same.”
Through the LEADoula program, Standard and her team are working to ensure that Black women receive the care, advocacy, and support they deserve—one trained doula at a time.
Source: UNC
