Did you know that Black women are three to four times more likely to die than white women during pregnancy?
Maternal health is an extremely important topic that women are starting to be a lot more vocal about. High profile mothers like Serena Williams have opened up about their experiences.
Williams even shared her near-death experience with delivering her daughter and developing a pulmonary embolism.
Maternal health has always been a concern, but now, more than ever, it’s a concern for Black women and the staggering death rates have everything to do with being a Black woman in America.
The rate of life-threatening complications for new mothers in the United States has more than doubled in the last 20 years because of pre-existing conditions, medical errors, poverty and unequal access to care. These are all the type of issues that disproportionately effect Black women.
According to the CDC, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease are two of the leading causes of maternal death.
It’s been reported that for African-Americans, high blood pressure also develops earlier in life and is usually more severe.
And during pregnancy? It’s even worse.
We need to start talking about maternal health, especially in the Black community. It could save lives.
Check out The OverExplainer above to dig into the racial disparities in maternal health.
