Disparities in Maternal Mortality: How Structural Racism and Implicit Bias Impact Black Pregnant Women
The maternal mortality rate in the United States (USA) continues to increase despite medical advances and is exacerbated by stark racial disparities. Black women are disproportionately affected and are three times more likely to experience a pregnancy-related death (PRD) compared to Non-Hispanic White (NHW) women.
Organized medicine has been dealing with this problem for a long time. It’s now up to people of color to help work this out. The surging maternal mortality rate for Black women is a public health crisis that requires a multi-tiered approach. Interventions should be implemented at the provider and healthcare institution level to dismantle implicit biases and structural racism. Improving patient-provider relationships through increased cultural competency and disparity education will increase patient engagement with the maternal healthcare (MHC) system.
