Five X More: Two Women Campaigning For Change

Five X More are a grassroots organisation committed to changing Black women and birthing people’s maternal health outcomes in the UK. Maternal health is a very important when venturing into motherhood. Every pregnancy and birth is unique and inequalities need to be acknowledged to make sure everyone has access to safe maternal health care and advice. Started by two inspirational Black mothers with one simple goal of improving maternal mortality rates and health care outcomes for Black women, this International Women’s Day we want to help spread their story.

When Five X More co-founders Tinuke and Clo, discovered that Black women and birthing people were five times more likely than white women to die in pregnancy, childbirth and up to six weeks postpartum* they knew they had to take action. With a three pronged approach they support, empower and advocate for Black women and birthing people helping them to make informed choices and advocate for themselves throughout their pregnancies and after childbirth.

Since 2018 there has thankfully been a decrease, but Black women are still four times more likely to die during childbirth and 6 weeks postpartum, leading us to question why? Co-founders Tinuke and Clo both had personal experiences leading them to start the campaign, calling on those in power to change the outcomes for Black women and starting a community. Focusing on empowering and supporting black women throughout pregnancy, birth and into motherhood. They use their resources to support women and train health professionals.

ABOUT THE FOUNDERS

Before starting Five X More, co-founders Tinuke and Clo were already building their own communities, supporting Black mothers and sharing their own personal experiences. Mother of two young boys, Clo created Prosperitys a maternal well being social enterprise which supports Black and south Asian mums across the UK. She also works in a fetal medicine/day assessment unit in a South London hospital as well as being the co-chair for Lambeth and St Thomas’s hospital Maternity Voice Partnerships. 

Tinuke is also a mum of two and founder of the social media platform Mums and Tea, a safe space for mums to come together to offer advice and support throughout pregnancy and motherhood. It was Tinuke who initially had the idea to join forces with Clo after her own personal experience and information she had been told from her social media community of mothers. They both have our utmost respect!

Together these extraordinary women joined forces, starting out with no resources whilst juggling having young families, their passion drove this campaign off the ground. They started their first social media campaign, #fivexmoreselfie to help raise awareness of the statistics by sharing a selfie holding up 5 fingers. This helped spread the word and started a community of mothers, leading to their next step taking them to parliament.

COMMITTED TO CHANGE

In 2020 they launched a public petition which received 187,000 signatures leading to Black maternal health being debated in parliament for the first time in history. In 2021 they announced the launch of a parliamentary group on Black maternal health, created to tackle institutional racism in the UK health system. Since then they have been campaigning for change with many more visits to parliament and a growing community of mothers. They recently created the UK’s first Black Maternal Health awareness week and have a month of advocacy every April to help increase public awareness. 

“It is a fact that Black women experience higher rates of complication in childbirth.  As we strive to make childbirth safer for all mothers and babies we must make special effort to empower Black women to manage their health and wellbeing throughout their pregnancy. I commend Five X More for their work in raising awareness. This is a challenge we must tackle to make childbirth safer for mum and baby”

— Jackie Doyle Price, MP

Although the UK has one of the lowest maternal mortality rates globally, the disparity in who is suffering is clear. Five X More was started by two inspirational mothers who simply couldn’t sit back and listen to the statistics any longer, they need those numbers to change. By working together to spread awareness they are already making a difference by giving Black women the confidence to ask questions and know what information and advice they are entitled to, to make their pregnancy and journey into motherhood a safer one. 

There are many ways you can take action and help to support their campaign. You can donate, share a #fivexmore selfie to continue spreading the statistics and write to your local MP to ask for change. Remember you don’t have to be directly involved to spread their their story and pledge your support. Five X More are asking for Black women and any allies of the campaign to write to their MPs asking them to sign the pledge and they even have a briefing pack and notes on their website you can download to do this. For more information on Five X More and how you can help with their campaign, visit their website and most recent report here.

 

* report conducted by MBRRACE-UK (Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries)