Are You Down For Black Women or Not?
Black women are more than likely to experience disparities in maternal healthcare, and it is often rooted in racism and sexism.
By Dartaja Carr
Photo by: The Century Foundation
Are you aware that Black women are DYING due to the lack of proper healthcare? Black women are one among other races and ethnicities that experience disparities in healthcare, such as maternal and infant mortality defects. Black women have the highest infant mortality rate of any racial or ethnic group in the United States. Black women across the spectrum are dying from preventable pregnancy. Although maternal mortality affects U.S. women from all backgrounds, Black women experience the most complications such as preterm labor, infections, gestational diabetes, and even death. It is not a surprise that maternal health among black women has emerged as an issue in the 2020 presidential campaign.
Health care and service providers fail to not only treat our black women with respect, but they also dismiss their needs knowing that these women are helpless. No one believes a black woman when she indicates that she is enduring pain or that something is wrong. These stressors can trigger high risk for medical conditions including preeclampsia (pregnancy-related high blood pressure), eclampsia (a complication of preeclampsia characterized by seizures), embolisms (blood vessel obstructions), and mental health conditions.
Despite the racial disparities Black women face, these disparities are attached to the maternal and infant deaths. The public has only recently focused on this issue pushing it as a public health crisis. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists acknowledged that racial bias within the health care system is contributing to the disproportionate number of pregnancy-related deaths among minority women. But why now?
Here Are The Facts
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.) found that black women were 3.3 times more likely than white women to suffer a pregnancy-related death.
Most of the deaths at delivery are caused by severe bleeding.
A leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths are related to a cardiovascular disease. Surprisingly, a cardiovascular disease typically is not associated with the cause of young pregnant women's deaths. However, in this case, it is.
C.D.C. found that heart disease and strokes caused more than one-third of pregnancy-related deaths.
C.D.C. found that a great proportion of deaths among black women occurred in the later postpartum period compared with white women.
In 2018, black women died 2½ times more often than white women (37.1 vs 14.7 deaths per 100,000 live births)
Why Do Health Care Disparities Matter?
Addressing health disparities is increasingly significant as the population grows and becomes more diverse. As the world is changing, we need to protect All Black women. Although it may not affect some people, it affects the mothers and or children who lose their lives because they did not receive the proper respect or care. Eliminating racial disparities in health care will require promoting appropriate health and delivering proper care.
The African American infant mortality rate is twice the rate for white infants. Black women are more likely to die from cancer and heart disease than whites. Although the death rates for Black women with heart disease and cancer dropped significantly over a fifteen year period, across many other chronic illnesses, Black women are still more likely to die compared to other racial and ethnic groups.
How Do We Eliminate Health Care Disparities?
To eliminate racial disparities in maternal and infant mortality, we have to start by having conversations about maternal and infant health, despite the interdependence of pregnancy and birth outcomes. By closing this gap, we can consider the possible solutions to address not only racial disparities but also provide better social, economic, and service health care to all Black pregnant women. According to the Center for American Progress (CAP), here are strategies in five areas recommended for people to address the ongoing threat against Black women and their infants:
Improve access to critical services:
Offering Black women the tools they need to navigate the healthcare system.
Improve the quality of care provided to pregnant women:
Train providers to build a more diverse health care workforce. Train them to address and stop racism.
Address maternal and infant mental health:
Identify any barriers surrounding maternal mental health. Provide different yet effective services.
Enhance supports for families before and after birth:
Invest in community and family support programs.
Improve data collection and oversight:
Ensure equity in any review process.
