“Deep Care” podcast launched to spotlight black maternal health, hosted by Dr. Kaytura Felix

Black women in the United States continue to face alarmingly high maternal mortality rates, approximately three times higher than those of white women. Deep Care, a new podcast hosted by nationally recognized health justice expert Kaytura Felix, MD, Distinguished Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, dives into the urgent and often overlooked solutions that are saving lives. 

What if an answer to the Black maternal health crisis is already here? Deep Care illuminates the intimate stories of Black parents who’ve chosen midwifery care and experienced transformative outcomes for themselves and their babies, reframing the national conversation from crisis to possibility. The podcast also delves into related critical topics such as home births and birth centers, pregnancy loss and grief, and disparities in healthcare. Through intimate, evocative personal stories and immersive sound, Deep Care highlights how Black community midwives, hospitals, and collaborative care programs are improving outcomes and reshaping maternal health equity––offering an optimistic, solutions-driven perspective on midwifery’s past, present, and empowering future. 

Host Kaytura Felix, MD, also shares her keen insights on the podcast as she leads the Black Birthing Futures project, an in-depth study of the experiences and impacts of midwives on Black communities nationwide. 

“Black maternal mortality is not inevitable,” says Dr. Felix. “Deep Care is about solutions rooted in the Black community that affirm, empower, and save lives.” 

Deep Care is brought to listeners in partnership with Pulitzer-winning public media organization PRX. An audio trailer is available now. The new six-episode weekly series launched Monday, April 13, and is free across all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Overcast, and Pocket Casts.

While the podcast centers Black birthing people and their loved ones, providing affirmation and clarity on safe home and community births, it is also essential listening for doctors, policymakers, and the general public seeking to understand and support meaningful change in maternal health. Deep Care interrupts the despairing discourse around Black birthing, shifting the lens from “What’s wrong?” to “What works?”