Baby Lifeline proudly sponsored the Motherhood Group’s second Black Maternal Health Conference on 18th March 2024 in London. The event brought together community members, healthcare providers, policymakers and mothers to address systemic racism in Black women’s health.
The day was opened and closed by Sandra Igwe, CEO and Founder of the Motherhood Group, and member of Baby Lifeline’s Family Voices Group. The panel discussions covered topics such as achieving equity in education and empowering Black students, mental health and cultural stigma, institutional racism and implicit bias within maternity care, and pregnancy loss.
In a spotlight on maternity care, Dr Karen Joash identified medical and sociocultural factors that contribute to Black maternity & infant health inequalities. Panellists Elizabeth Idowu, Florence Ekolongeni and Marsha Jones also made recommendations for health institutions and government in their discussion about maternity care systems. These included:
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Implementing anti-racism training for staff
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Diversifying leadership
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Ensuring accountability around equity policies.
Achieving equity & equality in maternity care
The disparities in outcomes for Asian and Black women and birthing people when compared with their white counterparts are now well-documented through reports and statistics:
- Women from Asian backgrounds are almost twice as likely to die before or after childbirth as white women, and Black women are up to four times more likely to die
- Black babies have the highest mortality rates and are twice as likely to be stillborn or die within the first 28 days after birth. Asian babies are over one and a half times more likely to be stillborn or die within the first 28 days after birth when compared with White babies
- South Asian women living in a Western country are up to nine times more likely to suffer a severe perineal injury than Caucasian women
- Black and South Asian women are up to three times more likely to develop certain long-term health conditions following a diagnosis of gestational diabetes than white women
As an organisation, Baby Lifeline is committed to trying to reduce these disparities through our training and research. We have previously described gaps in training for healthcare professionals relating to cultural sensitivity, language needs, and social considerations, and called for improvements in these areas.
Equity and inequalities is discussed in many of our training courses, including recognising clinical signs on women, birthing people and babies with Black and Brown skin, and providing culturally sensitive care.