In this episode, we will be talking about the lack of care and medical resources for women, especially black women in low-income areas. In the United States, black women are 2 to 6 times more likely to die from complications of pregnancy than white women, depending on where they live (American Medical Association, 1999). Total maternal mortality rates ranged from 1.9 deaths per 100,000 in New Hampshire to 22.8 in the District of Columbia. When data from 1979 to 1992 were analyzed, the overall pregnancy-related mortality ratio was 25.1 deaths per 100,000 for black women, 10.3 for Hispanic women, and 6.0 for non-Hispanic white women (Hopkins et al., 1999). These rates have not improved between 1987 and 1996 (American Medical Association, 1999). The leading causes of maternal death are hemorrhage, pregnancy-induced hypertension, and embolism (Berg, Atrash, Koonin, & Tucker, 1996). Black and nonwhite women have almost 3 times the risk of death from hemorrhage than white women (Chichakli, Atrash, Mackay, Musani, & Berg, 1999).
None of these authors can explain the racial differences in maternal mortality rates. However, “quality of prenatal delivery and postpartum care, as well as the interaction between health-seeking behaviors and satisfaction with care may explain part of this difference” (American Medical Association, 1999, p. 1221). The Center for Disease Control (1999), though, points to the fact that 50% of pregnancies are unplanned. These pregnancies are associated with increased mortality for the mother and infant. “Lifestyle factors (e.g., smoking, drinking alcohol, unsafe sex practices, and poor nutrition) and inadequate intake of foods containing folic acid pose serious health hazards to the mother and fetus and are more common among women with unintended pregnancies” (Center for Disease Control, 1999, p. 849). In addition, the CDC estimates that half of the women that experience an unintended pregnancy do not seek prenatal care during the first trimester. To discover interventions that may diminish maternal mortality, 25 states have reestablished maternal mortality review committees to examine factors that may contribute to maternal deaths (American Medical Society, 1999).
This is an ongoing epidemic that needs to end or else our whole African American race will eventually become extinct.
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