Sherrie Payne is a perinatal nurse who is making her way across Missouri, walking from Clinton in Kansas City all the way to Augusta in St. Louis, in an effort too create a new awareness about the issue of Black infant mortality. She also aims to raise funds for her nonprofit organization, the Uzazi Village Center of Excellence, that will be directed towards the elimination of racial discrimination around the time, before and after, a black infant is born. This organization is dedicated to the improvement of the health of both mother and child, especially within the urban areas.
According to data, the infant death rate for African-American babies in the United States is twice that of Caucasian infants. This movement aims to shed light on the reality that an increasing number of Black infants are dying at a disturbingly escalating rate. According to Payne, these cases are due mainly to factors such as low birth weight, preterm delivery, poverty, lack of breast-feeding, inaccessibility of quality healthcare, and systemic racism that these families encounter within healthcare organizations. During the awareness activity, she has to set her goals to speak with concerned groups who are willing and receptive about information regarding infant loss and what needs to be done to reverse the trend. Payne believes that this is a national issue that has been largely ignored and has been subject to misinterpretation.
Payne is appealing to people, not only to direct donations onto the Uzazi Village Center in Missouri, but also to find time to sit down with the people in the organization so that they could learn more about us their mission and vision.
For this event, Payne has assembled a small team of concerned citizens that will be walking with her for the same cause. They are urging everyone to create more buzz about the event and make donations to Uzazi Village to help fight and put a stop to black infant mortality.