5th August 2026

Leading Change Through Cultural Awareness: iHV Launches Promoting Care Across Cultures Ambassador Training Programme 

The Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) is proud to launch the Promoting Care Across Cultures Ambassador Training Programme, a national training initiative made possible through generous funding from The Burdett Trust for Nursing. This programme has been developed to strengthen culturally aware, place‑based health visiting leadership and to support meaningful improvements in care for Black women during the interpregnancy period. 

Black women in the UK continue to face stark and long‑standing inequalities in maternity and perinatal care. National reports¹ including the recently published Nuffield Trust² analysis, show that Black women remain significantly more likely to experience severe complications and death in the perinatal period than White women. These inequities span multiple birth and health outcomes and reflect the combined impact of structural racism, differential treatment, and unmet clinical and social needs. 

These persistent inequalities highlight the urgent need for enhanced cultural awareness and sensitivity across the health visiting workforce. This new Ambassador Programme directly addresses that gap, equipping health visitors, skill mix teams and multi‑agency practitioners with enhanced knowledge to better understand Black women’s experiences, confidence to recognise and challenge bias and racism in practice, and apply quality‑improvement approaches to drive change. 

Co‑developed and facilitated with experts by experience and subject matter specialists, the programme ensures authentic insight, lived experience and evidence‑based learning are embedded throughout. Delivered across two half‑day sessions, the curriculum builds in time for reflective discussion and provides practitioners with the tools to take action to address local inequalities, drive innovation, and improve heath visiting services.

This initiative marks an important step in advancing culturally responsive health visiting practice and improving outcomes for Black women, their babies and children, and their families.

Susan Ibuanokpe, Antenatal Educator, Maternal Health Advocate, and co-facilitator of the iHV Promoting Care Across Cultures Ambassador Training, said:

“As a Mum of five, Antenatal Educator and Maternal Health advocate, I have seen and experienced care from health visitors spanning over 15 years, and its support and development has grown to become very dear to my heart.  When I was asked to share my experiences of using health visitor services and co-facilitate the sessions, we quickly realised that my experiences and the backdrop of navigating maternity and healthcare services as a Black woman in the UK needed to be woven throughout each session.  We could not avoid discussing the history and impact of medical racism and cultural differences on how Black women might interact with health visiting services, and it was so important to hold space for the understanding and processing of such experiences, to ensure that health visitors can be well supported and sustained to support these members of their community.”

 

Susan Tasinkou, Professional Lead – Children and Family Service, and Quality Improvement Coach, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight NHS Foundation Trust, and co-facilitator of the iHV Promoting Care Across Cultures Ambassador Training, commented:

“Being involved in the development and pilot training stages of Promoting Care Across Cultures has been the most inspiring experience. The coproduction approach has taught me so much, every session brings something new from the participants, layered across research, history and lived experience…raising awareness of the inequalities of our current systems and structures. It’s a joy to be part of something so impactful that is more than just raising awareness, it’s about taking one step closer to making a real difference. I love supporting health visitors to gain an understanding of quality improvement. I feel quality improvement is an essential tool to take action to address health inequalities within the communities we work in as health visitors. It’s a methodology that is evidence based that enables innovation within the community to be more likely to be successful. Come take that first step, be part of a session and start developing the change we need to see.”

Introducing the iHV Promoting Care Across Cultures Ambassador Training 

 

Aim: To enable participants to become iHV Ambassadors in Promoting Care Across Cultures, equipped with the knowledge and understanding to become place-based leaders in effecting change to meet the needs of Black women and their families.

Learning outcomes: 

By the end of the training participants will:

• Demonstrate deeper understanding of the needs of Black women during the perinatal period to support the provision of personalised, trauma-informed care.  

• Apply learning from the evidence and insights to work in partnership with Black women to ensure safe, evidence-based, and compassionate practice. 

• Be equipped with knowledge of quality improvement and tools that support local change and promote culturally sensitive service.  

• Become local Ambassadors for Black women’s health, acting as local advocates to support service improvement. 

Enhance your practice today by prioritising your CPD – take the step that strengthens your confidence, deepens your cultural awareness, and enhances the care you provide for every family. 

Or email [email protected] 

References

1. Felker A, Patel R, Kotnis R, Kenyon S, Knight M (Eds.) on behalf of MBRRACE-UK. Saving Lives, Improving Mothers’ Care Compiled Report – Lessons learned to inform maternity care from the UK and Ireland Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths and Morbidity 2021-23. Oxford: National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford 2025. DOI: 10.5287/ora-4javr692x 
2. 2.Nuffield Trust.Evidence for better health care. One in five women attend A&E in the year after giving birth, with stark inequalities rooted long before pregnancy. 2026.[Accessed 31.07.2026]. Available from: https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/one-in-five-women-attend-ae-in-the-year-after-giving-birth-with-stark-inequalities-rooted-long-before-pregnancy