Join hosts Xand and Rochelle for the third instalment of Public Health Disrupted, the brand new podcast from UCL Health of the Public.

In public health, we often refer to 'hard to reach' groups, but are we doing enough to listen to them?

This month, we speak to the co-founders of Five X More, and UCL academic Dr Carol Rivas, to explore the role of discrimination and structural disadvantage in the health inequalities experienced by different marginalised groups in the UK, and the incredible work they are doing to change this.

Black women in the UK have a fourfold* higher risk of dying in pregnancy in comparison to white women. Our first guests, Five X More co-founders Tinuke and Clo, join us to discuss the action they are taking to address this disparity. Five X More is a grassroots campaign dedicated to supporting mothers and empowering black women to make informed choices and advocate for themselves throughout their pregnancies and after childbirth. The campaign is committed to calling on the government and healthcare workers to change the shocking statistics.

Our second guest, Dr Carol Rivas, is an associate professor in social policy and programme evaluation at the UCL Institute of Education’s Social Research Institute. Carol tells us more about her work developing practical and theoretical understandings of vulnerability and social interaction to support instrumental changes in policy and practice. Her research focuses on so-called hidden disabilities, their intersection with race, ethnicity and migrant status, and on developing tools that empower the voices of marginalised groups.

If there’s a question you’d like our hosts or guests to answer, please email us at [email protected] or tweet @UCLHealthPublic.

New episodes will be made available monthly via the UCL Soundcloud, Spotify, Apple Podcast and Google Podcast. Find the transcript and more information on the UCL Health of the Public website.

* When the campaign started, this number was five times more (MBRRACE 2018 & 2019).

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/health-of-public/public-health-disrupted