The Equal Start Project is a community-based project in East Oxford which seeks to address the inequalities faced by women and birthing people from black and minoritised ethnic backgrounds. The project helps women and birthing people access essential support services offered by the NHS, other statutory services, and voluntary/community-based organisations.

Support is given from pregnancy up to the first two years of a child’s life. Forms of support include, antenatal classes, maternal health justice partnership case works and training in advocacy, community outreach and peer-to-peer support. Since its inception, the project has developed a new role of Maternity Advocate and Community Organiser (MACO) who will harness the power of trusted relationships to build connections between statutory services and the community.  

Historically, Black and other ethnic minority groups have faced significant maternal and perinatal health inequity, associated with multiple social determinants such as disparities in access to health and social care.

The Equal Start project was launched in late 2022, inspired by local and national research highlighting the challenges faced by mothers and birthing people from diverse migrant populations in Oxford. These include being unheard by medical professionals, inadequate care, and language barriers. The project addresses these issues, focusing on mothers from African, Caribbean, South Asian, East Timorese, Arab, and other ethnic minority communities, and supports community midwives in providing optimal care.

• Advocacy and empowerment for communities to influence change in their maternity services and community.
• Bespoke community-based antenatal education and support: antenatal classes-co-producing community-based antenatal education with midwives, offering culturally-appropriate health literacy information and interpretation support for first or second-time parents.
• Training programs- running training and community work experience programs for local mothers to become community outreach workers, peer supporters, and maternal advocates.
• Maternal justice work in accessing housing, immigration, benefits, etc. 

• Informed decision making: a report evidencing impact and key learnings from service users, sustainability, can help inform future projects, strategies, and policy decisions. The project’s output can strengthen community research capacity.
• Systemic change: influencing systemic changes in maternity care to be more inclusive and responsive to the needs of diverse communities.
• Better health outcomes: reduced health inequalities and better health outcomes for Black and minoritised mothers and their children.
• Working with communities: a compilation of stories will be produced to communicate the project’s initiatives and impact to diverse audiences. These stories can empower underserved groups to contribute to the design and delivery of maternal healthcare that is tailored to their needs.  
• Build sustainable partnerships between communities, service and healthcare providers.