News — health

Just like Dr Frances Cress Welsing, Dr Edward Robinson breaks down a secret and hidden study on the African DNA strands, how it affects the intelligence (IQ) of black people and why this is will never be made public. Geneticists found that people from Africa have more DNA series which shows they are smarter. This reveals that when one person or group attempts to keep down another person or group, it is due to the fear of the truth being revealed that the bully/oppressor is in fact inferior to those they attempt to keep down. What do you think?

What was expected to be a routine plastic surgery appointment in Mexico for three California women who had booked the same doctor, unfortunately, ended tragically for the trio. One of them, Keuana Weaver, died during her procedure while the two others sustained near-fatal health complications in the aftermath of the botched surgeries.

The women had their individual procedures done by Dr. Jesús Manuel Báez López at his Art Siluette Aesthetic Surgery clinic in the Mexican city of Tijuana the same day, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Among the two women who were lucky to have survived, one sustained kidney failure and has had to be on dialysis as a result while the other woman was admitted to the hospital for two weeks after suffering a hemorrhage and hematoma.

The Mexican border city, which is located south of California, is frequently thronged by Americans for plastic surgery procedures as the charges are cheaper compared to those back home. However, there have been multiple reports of citizens sustaining health complications after undergoing procedures there.

Speaking to the news outlet, Renee Weaver, the mother of the deceased woman, said her daughter informed her she was headed to Florida to undergo a tummy tuck procedure. But unbeknownst to her, Weaver was rather heading to Mexico. She said she only got to know her 38-year-old daughter was out of the country after a family member informed her of her passing while under the knife. The incident happened on January 29 and an autopsy report determined she died as a result of her central nervous system shutting down after not receiving enough blood and oxygen. That report was provided to Weaver’s mother by Baja California’s Secretary of Health.

Following Weaver’s death, her mother said their family has been left in limbo as to what might have occurred. Attempts by The San Diego Union-Tribune to get Báez López to comment on the incident have also proved futile. However, the clinic reportedly offered to reimburse the $6,700 bill Weaver paid for the surgery following her death, her mother said.

One of the women who survived the surgery, Kanisha Davis, happened to be a friend of Weaver. She told the news outlet they both booked Báez López for liposuction and tummy tuck procedures. Davis, who is also a nurse by profession, recalled the red flags were raised during her procedure when she realized she had not been hooked up to any monitor while under the knife. She also added she was immediately discharged without even having her blood tested – which is supposed to be a routine post-surgery procedure.

“They didn’t check my hemo. They just kept sedating me and sedating me,” she said. “And me being a nurse, I knew something was off.” Davis said she later suffered complications and was admitted at a hospital for 2 weeks. She said she would have died if she hadn’t gone to the hospital earlier.

“If I hadn’t gone into the hospital when I did, I would have died,” she said. “I was slowly bleeding to death. I was weak.”

Meanwhile, a check on Báez López’s professional medical background by The San Diego Union-Tribune revealed he is not a member of Asociación Mexicana de Cirugía Plástica, Estética y Reconstructiva, A.C., an association of plastic surgeons in the North American country. Though membership is voluntary, plastic surgeons told the news outlet that supposed colleagues whose names don’t appear as members may be as a result of they not being professionally trained in the profession.

A search on Báez López’s educational background also revealed he has a master’s degree in aesthetic surgery – not plastic surgery. And there’s a difference. A professional plastic surgeon explained aesthetic surgery is “not really even surgery.”

“It’s like Botox. They advertise it as aesthetic surgery. But it’s not actually surgery,” he said.

Weaver’s family and Davis are exploring the possibility of taking legal action against the doctor but they are experiencing a few setbacks. Authorities in Baja California have said they’re investigating the incident though Weaver’s family say they’ve been left in the dark.

“Keuana was a very independent woman; a good, loving, smart and very intelligent Black woman,” the deceased’s mother said. “That doctor took a lot from me and my family and I most definitely have to have her story out there.

“I’m mostly sad this happened to my daughter because she was already so beautiful to me, inside and out, she just couldn’t see it.”

Numerous people across the globe eat with their hands. However, as we adopt more traditions of the western world, it is common to see people using spoons and forks to eat all the time. A lot of people, though, do not know that eating with the hands has a number of surprising health benefits. As compiled by THEPRIMALIST.COM, DAILY MAIL and USNEWS.COM, discover the reasons why you should ditch cutlery today.

1) Helps prevent type 2 diabetes

A new study published in the journal Clinical Nutrition found that people with type 2 diabetes were more likely to be fast eaters that used cutlery to eat, as compared to people without the condition. Eating with forks and spoons correlates with faster eating, which has been linked to blood-sugar imbalances in the body -- contributing to the development of type 2 diabetes. If you suspect that you may be eating too quickly, ditch utensils and focus on your eating style -- consciously slow it down and see how you feel. You may be surprised by how soon you get full with less food if you eat with your hands.

2) Improved digestion

We have some bacteria, known as normal flora, found on the palm and fingers of the hand. It is not harmful to humans, it in fact protects us from many damaging microbes in the environment. When you eat with your hands, the flora in the fingers is swallowed. It is beneficial for health and for various body parts such as the mouth, throat, and intestine, and it promotes healthy digestion in the gut. Handling food with your fingers releases digestive juices and enzymes. Also, millions of nerve endings in your fingers relay the message that you’re about to eat, including the temperature of the food, level of spiciness and texture of food, thereby prepping the stomach for digestion.

3) Useful tool in preventing binge eating

Binge eating is becoming a concern with more adults, but it can also occur in childhood. Binge eating seems to be related to the vicious cycle of restrictive dieting followed by a loss of control around food, and it contributes to further health problems. A study published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology showed that families who ate by hand were more in touch with eating concepts, such as eating only when hungry and paying attention to fullness cues. The study found that parents were able to help their 8 to 12-year-old overweight children cut down on binge eating episodes by training them to eat by hand.

4) It can help decrease overeating at restaurants

People worldwide spend about 40% of their food budget on dining out. These meals tend to be higher in overall calories, raising concern that this practice is increasing our national waistline. While many health professionals advise people to try and cook more at home, one study showed that watchful eating at restaurants might help. The researchers found that middle-aged women who ate out and used their hands to pick on appetizers and dry food entrées at least three times a week were heedful while eating.

This approach helped them reduce acid influx issues while still enjoying restaurant meals minus the feeling of heaviness.

5) Sure-fire way to stay lean

Researchers studied over 1,600 middle-aged women in New Zealand found that those women who ate in response to hunger were more likely to be at a healthy weight than women who paid no mind to hunger cues when they ate. Many people multi-task while eating lunch, but two studies published in the journal Appetite found that when people ate by hand while simultaneously reading a newspaper or watching TV, they were less hungry at snack-time, and opted for a smaller snack. Researchers concluded that eating by hand promotes a sense of fullness and satiety as compared to eating with utensils.

Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli has died at the age of 61, the country’s vice-president said. He died on Wednesday from heart complications at a hospital in Dar es Salaam, Samia Suluhu Hassan disclosed this in a televised address to the nation late on Wednesday.

The BBC reported last Wednesday that Magufuli has not made a public appearance in some time, prompting Tanzanians to ask for the whereabouts of their president. The opposition leader, Tundu Lissu, said the president was on admission in a hospital due to COVID-19. This is yet to be confirmed. Lissu said that Magufuli was flown to Kenya last Monday but rather quietly. He added that Magufuli may have suffered a cardiac arrest in his illness.

Last year, the Covid-19 skeptic leader declared a “victory” of the pandemic over what he said were the prayers of Tanzanians. Magufuli’s administration had declared that the country was coronavirus-free. This came after the government insisted normal public life would have to go on in spite of the suspected increase in cases leading up to the end of last year. Schools remained open as did churches.

“The corona disease has been eliminated thanks to God,” Magufuli once stated in a speech, apparently because of prayers. The spiritual inclination was not a joke as the government warned the American Embassy in Dar-es-Salaam to stay out of Tanzania’s internal affairs after the American envoy issued a statement in May 2020 claiming that hospitals in the commercial capital were on the verge of collapse due to admitting coronavirus-infected patients.

Magufuli did not only allege foreign conspiracies to undermine his government but also moved to crush faith in Tanzania’s scientific research community. He once stated that “probably, the technicians are also bought to mislead” on infection and mortality rates in the country. 

The head of the national research unit in charge of understanding Tanzania’s case count and kinds of infection was sacked after his outfit was accused of finding coronavirus in goats and pawpaw.

The government then launched an investigation into “criminal possibility at the national laboratory”. While most African countries placed restrictions on public life, Tanzania did not. Apart from full churches and mosques, stadia were also loaded with soccer fans and continue to be.

President John Magufuli of Tanzania, who has made global news headlines for advocating lax measures in his country in spite of the pandemic, is reportedly in a hospital receiving treatment for a coronavirus infection.

The BBC reported on Wednesday that Magufuli has not made a public appearance in some time, prompting Tanzanians to ask for the whereabouts of their president. However, according to opposition leader Tundu Lissu, the president is on admission in a hospital due to COVID-19, per his (Lissu’s) sources.

Lissu explained that information available to him has it that Magufuli, 61, was flown to Kenya on Monday night but rather quietly. He also added that Magufuli may have suffered a cardiac arrest in his illness.

Nairobi Hospital which is said to be where the Tanzanian leader has been admitted refused to comment on the allegation, the BBC said.

The 53-year-old opposition leader also alleges that Philip Mpango, the Finance Minister who made a public appearance a few weeks ago but was captured on camera coughing unstoppably, has also been admitted at Nairobi Hospital.

Understandable cover of darkness

If Magufuli is truly in a hospital having been infected by the virus, it would be understandable that his treatment is under a cover of darkness. Last year, the ultraconservative leader declared a “victory” of the pandemic because of what he said were the prayers of Tanzanians.

Magufuli’s administration had declared that the country was coronavirus-free. This came after government insisted normal public life would have to go on in spite of suspected increase in cases leading up to the end of last year. Schools remained opened as did churches, the establishments Magufuli credited with the “success” of Tanzania’s fight.

“The corona disease has been eliminated thanks to God,” Magufuli once stated in a speech, apparently because of prayers. The spiritual inclination was not a joke as the government warned the American Embassy in Dar-es-Salaam to stay out of Tanzania’s internal affairs after the American envoy issued a statement in May 2020 claiming that hospitals in the commercial capital were on the verge of collapse due to admitting coronavirus-infected patients.

Magufuli did not only allege foreign conspiracies to undermine his government but also moved to crush faith in Tanzania’s scientific research community. He once stated that “probably, the technicians are also bought to mislead” on infection and mortality rates in the country. The head of the national research unit in charge of understanding Tanzania’s case count and kinds of infection was sacked after his outfit was accused of finding coronavirus in goats and pawpaw.

The government then launched an investigation into “criminal possibility at the national laboratory”. While most African countries placed restrictions on public life, Tanzania did not. Apart from full churches and mosques, stadia were also loaded with soccer fans and continue to be.

A 66-year-old Tanzanian woman, who accidentally swallowed a toothbrush while brushing the back of her throat, has had the object successfully removed from her intestine by a team of specialists at the Benjamin Mkapa Hospital (BMH) in the East African nation’s capital city of Dodoma, according to local news outlet.

The toothbrush was reportedly removed from her stomach through gastroscopy. The procedure involves the use of a thin, flexible tube known as an endoscope to “view and operate on the internal organs and vessels.”

The endoscope, which is inserted into the stomach through the esophagus, is attached with a light and camera that is connected to a screen to enable doctors to see what they’re doing. The woman who swallowed the toothbrush was reportedly referred to specialists at the Benjamin Mkapa Hospital after she was initially taken to a nearby health facility.

“I was brushing my throat before I accidentally swallowed a piece of toothbrush,” the woman said in an interview.

A doctor who spoke to the news outlet said the procedure to remove the toothbrush from the woman’s stomach took about ten minutes.

“Before the procedure, the patient underwent an x-ray to establish the piece of toothbrush was situated. The whole process took at least 10 minutes,” Dr. Amonius Rutashobya said.

Ghana on Wednesday became the first country in the world to receive Covid-19 vaccines from Covax, an international co-operative program whose mission is to ensure that low and middle-income countries are not left behind in the distribution of coronavirus vaccines. The shipment, consisting of 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines, arrived Wednesday morning at the Kotoka International Airport in Ghana’s capital, Accra.

The vaccines, which are part of the first wave of vaccine deliveries headed to several low and middle-income countries, were produced by the Serum Institute of India, in the Indian city of Pune, a joint statement issued by UNICEF Ghana and WHO Ghana said.

“Today marks the historic moment for which we have been planning and working so hard,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “With the first shipment of doses, we can make good on the promise of the COVAX Facility to ensure people from less wealthy countries are not left behind in the race for life-saving vaccines.”

“The next phase in the fight against this disease can begin -– the ramping up of the largest immunization campaign in history,” said Fore. “Each step on this journey brings us further along the path to recovery for the billions of children and families affected around the world.”
Ghana, with a population of 30 million, has so far recorded 81,245 cases of the coronavirus and 584 deaths. The West African country is among 92 countries that have signed onto the Covax program. Covax is led by the United Nation’s World Health Organization; Gavi, a vaccine group; and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, or CEPI. Covax is funded by donations from governments, foundations and multilateral institutions. Its aim, according to a report by CNN, “is to buy coronavirus vaccines in bulk and send them to poorer nations that can’t compete with wealthy countries in securing contracts with the major drug companies.”
In February, Covax said it had secured almost 2.3 billion doses for distribution this year. Out of that figure, 1.8 billion is expected to be made available to 92 of the world’s poorest countries, the majority of which will be free. Countries that have signed to the program have to submit a detailed plan for handling and distributing the shot. Charles Adu Boahen, Ghana’s deputy finance minister, said Accra was first because the WHO had given the nod to its rollout plan. That rollout plan was led by former WHO deputy director-general Dr Anarfi Asamoa-Baah.
“[He] was in charge of vaccines for three years at the global health body and . . . was instrumental in putting together the rollout plan in a timely manner, allowing Ghana to be approved ahead of other African countries,” Boahen said, according to the Financial Times.
Ghana’s vaccination campaign will start March 2 and will be conducted in phases, beginning with health workers, adults of 60 years and over, people with underlying health conditions, frontline executive, legislature, judiciary, and their related staff, Ghana’s acting Minister of Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said in a statement.

“The government of Ghana remains resolute at ensuring the welfare of all Ghanaians and is making frantic efforts to acquire adequate vaccines to cover the entire population through bilateral and multi-lateral agencies,” he said.

People who draw on their own experiences to make the world a better place for others are invaluable and Dr. Oluwatomilayo (Tito) Daodu is a poster girl for such people. She had a rough childhood and as the first Black female pediatric surgeon practicing in Canada at the Alberta’s Children’s Hospital Foundation, she wants to make surgical care accessible to all.

Daodu is an award-winning researcher, volunteer, and the first Black pediatric surgeon working to “break down barriers to patients in need of surgical care.”

She believes her job is the best in the world as she does not only get to save lives but save the lifetimes of children she encounters.

As part of Black History Month, the American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA) gave a nod to the remarkable work Daodu is doing in her field on Twitter.

According to Avenue Calgary, Daodu was born in Nigeria. After being deported from Canada, she permanently moved to the country when she was eight. Fortunately, or unfortunately, she grew up in a rough neighborhood in the inner city of Winnipeg.

Determined to be more than she sees around her, Daodu chose to make the local drop-in center for kids, Wes Broadway Youth Outreach, her second home. There she was mentored by volunteers, and to date, she credits them for changing her life.

It was then that she took a stance to do everything she could to help the less privileged in society because when they get help, they, in turn, might grow up to reciprocate that help and the entire cycle is broken for a better society.

To her, the world would be a better place when pediatric surgeons are accessible to all peoples everywhere. “When we help the worst off or those with the least access, we do a service to the entire system,” she said.

She received her medical training at the University of Manitoba and did her residency and fellowship at the University of Calgary. Her research was on the impact of socioeconomic status on surgical outcomes and access to care.

For her outstanding work to society, she was nominated as part of Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40 in October 2019. The award scheme recognizes high-achieving Calgarians who are doing their bid to effect change in society and creating a lasting impact on the future of others.

As a medical student, Daodu was part of a team that developed a project centered on adolescent gender and reproductive health in Tanzania.

There were no summer ‘holidays’ for her either because she spent her summers in her native country Nigeria researching early childhood pneumonia and later launched ‘a surgical needs assessment’ for Nigeria as well.

Currently, Daodu is pursuing a master’s in public health at the Harvard University’s T.H Chan School of Public health. At Harvard, Daodu is part of a team working to modify the safe surgery checklist for high-income countries around the world, per Avenue Calgary.

Her passion is to promote justice and equity in medicine through Global Health. She is participating in ongoing research on Global and Public Health that focuses on improving surgical outcomes and improving equal access to surgical care for Canadians and the world at large.

“One of the things that excite me about the future is that I have a story that not that many people have,” she said. “I am probably uniquely situated from what I’ve gone through in life to be able to speak not just from an academic point of view, but from real life.”

It was all joy at a Burkina Faso teaching hospital after five children successfully underwent open-heart surgery. The historic surgery was thanks to French charity La Chaine de l’Espoir whose members are in Burkina Faso for a week-long surgical campaign at the Tengandogo University Hospital in Ouagadougou, the capital of the country.

All the five children, born with similar heart defects, are now recovering after the five-hour operation led by European doctors with help from health officials from Burkina Faso, Reuters reported.

“It’s largely about forming a team that can operate alone on children here, and we can stop having to transfer them to Morocco, to Tunisia, to France,” said Eric Cheysson, La Chaine de l’Espoir’s president.

The landmark surgery is a redefining moment for Burkina Faso where challenges remain in the health sector. According to the WHO, Burkina Faso suffers from a severe lack of qualified health workers at all levels including support staff. Only a few hospitals have the capacity for surgeries while doctors are usually found only in district hospitals.

When surgery began in the world in the late 1800s, it was often met with infections and other complications that sometimes resulted in death. With the absence of improved technologies, early surgeries were without recent advanced techniques, while anesthesia became common only in the mid-to-late 1800s. By the 1900s, the risk of losing one’s life after surgery was less than 50 percent. Since then, surgery has progressed, leading to fewer complications and improved outcomes.

In recent years, the surgical field has witnessed some mind-blowing incisions that have saved precious lives and transformed others. Last October, “awake craniotomy” was done for the first time at the Nairobi Hospital in Kenya to remove a brain tumor while the patient was fully awake in order for the neurosurgeons to have real-time feedback on what they were doing.

A US-based Ghanaian cardiovascular surgeon, Dr. Moses deGraft-Johnson, has pleaded guilty to several counts of healthcare fraud and other related charges stemming from billing the federal government and other health insurance companies for surgeries he never performed on patients.

According to the Tallahassee Democrat, deGraft-Johnson, who was indicted on February 4, pleaded guilty to 56 counts of health-care fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud and aggravated identity theft on Friday, December 18.

Prosecutors say the owner of the now-defunct Heart and Vascular Institute of North Florida allegedly sent out bills to the tune of at least $29 million to Capital Health Plan, Medicare and other insurance companies for surgeries he never performed at his health facility. deGraft-Johnson allegedly used those funds to finance a lavish lifestyle.

Describing his modus operandi, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said the surgeon targeted unsuspecting victims at churches, nursing homes and also at least a hospital, and then went ahead to perform “invasive” and “unnecessary” procedures on a majority of them. This left some of his patients, who were mostly from underserved communities, confused about the authenticity of their personal medical records and the kind of treatment they actually required, the Tallahassee Democrat reported. The federal prosecutors on the case said they’ll continue scrutinizing deGraft-Johnson’s scheme so patients can have a better understanding of their conditions and receive the right treatment.

“As part of his plea, deGraft-Johnson acknowledged engaging in a wide-ranging and consistent pattern of performing two invasive diagnostic angiography procedures – one on each leg – on hundreds of his patients, whether medically indicated or not.

“When his patients returned for follow-up office visits, deGraft-Johnson submitted fraudulent claims to their insurance companies stating he performed athrectomies during the appointments. Using this scheme, deGraft-Johnson admits he falsely claimed to have performed over 3,000 of these surgical procedures to clear blockages in arteries in as many as 845 of his patients’ legs,” a statement from the Department of Justice said.

The department also said they’re “aggressively pursuing” the surgeon’s forfeitable assets both in the United States and outside the country including luxury vehicles, jewelry, houses in Manhattan, Southampton, New York, Miami and Houston, as well as over $1 million in cash.

“It is critically important that we do everything within the scope of our authority to help the patients preyed upon by this criminal doctor, in order to seek recovery of the $29-million-plus that he fraudulently received and to prevent similar schemes from happening in the future — both by deterring the would-be perpetrators and by educating those they would exploit,” U.S. Attorney Larry Keefe said in a statement.

The accused, who was born in Ghana but moved to the United States with his family as a child, is famously known for treating and saving the life of rapper 50 Cent after he was shot multiple times in Queens in 2000, the Tallahassee Democrat reported. He also owned multiple businesses in the US and Africa and aspired to run for president in his native Ghana. deGraft-Johnson worked as an independent doctor for the Capital Regional Medical Center after joining in 2014 and until before he was indicted.

The 46-year-old is set to be sentenced on April 8, 2021, at the United States District Court in Tallahassee. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each of the conspiracy and health care fraud charges and a mandatory 2-year sentence for the aggravated identity theft charge. He also faces a slew of fines amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“Instead of caring for his patients, this defendant targeted vulnerable members of our community, subjected them to unnecessary surgical procedures, and falsified documents so he could line his pockets with millions of taxpayer dollars. Fraud, like this, reduces the availability of critical resources and contributes to the rising cost of healthcare for all,” Rachel L. Rojas, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Jacksonville Division, said in the statement.

South Africa's president has announced a raft of new restrictions in a major city as the nation stares down a possible coronavirus resurgence. 

This has been a tough year for the nation with Africa’s highest coronavirus burden, President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged in a Thursday night speech.

But now, as many South Africans plan to embark on a monthlong summer holiday, now is not the time for South Africa to let down its guard, he warned. 

“As we want to relax, this virus does not relax.  And this virus does not take a holiday,” he said.  “This 2020 has been a difficult year for us as a nation and as a country. It has severely tested our resolve and demanded great sacrifices of each and every one of us. But even as the holidays approach, we cannot let our guard down. Unless we take personal responsibility for our health and the health of others, more people are going to become infected. More people are going to die.”

Nearly 22,000 South Africans have already died, he noted.  

To that end, he announced restrictions for one of the country’s major metropoles, Nelson Mandela Bay. The coastal city, also known as Port Elizabeth, has recently seen a jump in confirmed cases. 

The city’s one million residents now must observe a nighttime curfew and are restricted in both buying and consuming alcohol in public. Gatherings are now limited to 250 people for outdoor events and 100 for indoor events. 

He also said that countrywide, post-funeral gatherings -- which Ramaphosa referred to as “after-tears parties” -- are prohibited.

Johannesburg, the nation’s economic hub, is known for drawing people from around the country. During the end-of-year holidays, the city empties out as many residents return to their families. Security guard Eric Kabelo plans to return to Carletonville, a small town southwest of Johannesburg, for the season. Kabelo, who is 27, says he has no quibble with the restrictions. 

“I think it’s fine,” he said. “Because of alcohol, it gives us a problem. You can check -- a lot of people, they get into accidents, a lot of things are happening. I think the restriction is better.”

Office manager Thando Zondi is also hoping to travel this holiday season, to her home in KwaZulu-Natal province. No restrictions have been announced for that area, she said. 

“His speech yesterday was mostly for (Port Elizabeth), and I’m in Gauteng so I’m not really affected,” she said. “We’re still on level 1, so it didn’t change anything for us, so I’m not affected, I’m fine.” 

However, in his half-hour televised “family meeting,” President Ramaphosa reminded all South Africans that they have a role to play in keeping the resurgence contained.

“By far the greatest contributing cause of infections is that many people are not wearing masks and are not observing proper hygiene and social distancing,” the South African leader said. “As I said during our last family meeting, at alert level one, we have the measures we need to control the virus, all the tools in place, but our main problem is that there are parts of our country where people are not complying with the current restrictions and the basic prevention measures are not being followed.

“Fellow South Africans, we must change our behavior now to prevent a resurgence of the virus and manage outbreaks wherever they occur,” he added. “If we think of this pandemic like a bushfire, we need to quickly extinguish the flare-ups, the flames, before they turn into a big wildfire like an inferno.”

The issues of maternal and infant mortality in communities of color, particularly in the Black community, are often ignored.  It is no secret that Black mothers face a host of challenges to accessing quality maternal healthcare, regardless of socioeconomic standing and education level. With high profile cases like Serena Williams and Kira Dixon-Johnson (Judge Glenda Hatchett’s daughter-in-law), it has been repeatedly proven that this is linked to implicit bias, is a systemic problem and leads to Black maternal mortality rates being more than triple that of their white counterparts and considerably more than that of other races as well.

Though just as devastating to Black and Brown communities, there is rarely mention of how initiation into and sustained breastfeeding or a lack thereof impacts upon Black infant health and mortality rates or that of Black mothers. However, studies have shown that Black women are the least likely among women of all races to breastfeed on a whole and in the event that they do, it is rarely exclusive for the timeframe that they engage in the practice. As a result, Black babies are three times more likely to die than their counterparts of other races. Overall, they are more susceptible to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), a host of life-threatening and sometimes lifelong medical conditions, including: asthma, respiratory infections, impaired vision, eczema, gastrointestinal infections, constipation, urinary tract infections, et al.

Similarly, Black mothers who do not engage in breastfeeding are more likely to suffer from breast, endometrial and ovarian cancer; postpartum depression; diabetes; morbid obesity as a result of pregnancy/inability to lose pregnancy-related weight and other troubling medical health issues.

Enter Krystal Duhaney, CEO and founder of Milky Mama, who just recently claimed the top prize of $25,000 at the New Voices + Target Accelerators $100,000 Virtual Pitch Competition on September 25th. Milky Mama provides a wrap-around experience that improves the health and wellness of both mothers and infants, including online breastfeeding courses, a support group of over 25,000 mothers, virtual lactation consultations, weekly sessions with lactation consultants, and effective lactation supplements.

“Milky Mama…is going to have the greatest impact because this company and its founder, Krystal Duhaney, live their purpose. [Their purpose is] bringing awareness to the higher incidents of Black maternal deaths and infant mortality through their lactation supplement products and breastfeeding services…[and] what they are building is intentional about solving problems in the Black community.” said Richelieu Dennis, Chair of New Voices.

As a new mom who was having trouble with milk production and getting her baby to latch properly, Duhaney searched for guidance and support, seeking advice from her physician, son’s pediatrician, and other women about how to embrace breastfeeding. Duhaney struggled and found ways to cope throughout her breastfeeding journey with her son from 2012 to 2014. When she found herself battling the same issues after the birth of her daughter in 2015, she started researching foods that could support her on this journey.

Building a Purpose-Driven Business

As an avid baker, Duhaney developed recipes for baked goods and drinks that bolstered her milk supply. She quickly realized with the creation of her Emergency Brownie, that she could be a resource and community-builder for other breastfeeding moms, especially those who look like her.  She started posting about her products, creating an environment for breastfeeding moms to feel supported and Milky Mama was born in September 2015.

Just five short years, six employees and several products later, Duhaney has built a community that reaches over 500,000 “Milky Mamas” worldwide. Being a nurse, she felt it was important for her and her staff to become breastfeeding experts. As such, in 2018, Duhaney became an internationally certified lactation consultant and provided the opportunity for her entire team—of mostly bakers at the time—to become lactation consultants and doulas. 

“It was really important to me that everyone on my team was knowledgeable and passionate about breastfeeding. Everyone on my team is a mother and a woman of color […]. It’s important that we have a network of support that knows what they’re talking about. I wanted to see them grow and support their wishes and their needs for their own personal development,” Duhaney shared.

Duhaney was spurred on by a desire to set a generational precedent in her own family, give her babies the best possible start and challenge the narratives around Black women and breastfeeding. She was determined that she and her babies were not going to fall victim to the potential fall-out associated with not breastfeeding. So, against her doctors’ counsel to just feed her baby formula, she pressed on and created a solution to the barriers of breastfeeding she faced and that solution was Milky Mama.