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Jun

29

Black Maternal Health: a series by Women’s eNews, Part I


We’ve heard before about how, prior to Bernadine Healy (former head of the research institute at the Cleveland Clinic and dean of OSU’s medical college, before heading up the American Red Cross) being the head of NIH, few if any studies included enough women and made the results relevant to more than 50% of the United States’ population.

Well, we should also realize that there are other ways in which research and reporting on health can be skewed, intentionally or not, because it fails to take other demographics into account.

Today, Women’s eNews published its first article in what they call a series on Black Maternal Health. They don’t mention how many articles or how often the article will be published, but I receive they’re daily e-mails and will be sure to cross-link to each one in the series as they appear.

From the first one, titled, “U.S. Black Maternal Hazards Tied to Social Stress,”:

Regardless of their age, marital status, education or early prenatal care, African American women are more likely to bear premature and low-birth-weight infants, those under 6 pounds, whose survival odds are below the U.S. norm.

Nationwide, black women are three to four times more likely to die giving birth than either white or Latina women. Their infants’ mortality risk is doubled, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disparity has persisted even as infant mortality rates for the nation as a whole have fallen.

…

Over the last 10 years, the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Research on Women’s Health, led by its first full-time director, Vivian Pinn, an African American appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1991, has encouraged a body of research indicating that the roots of black maternal ill health run deep. Among the findings:

Black immigrant women have fewer low-birth-weight babies than native-born black women.

Pregnant African American women are most likely to develop hypertension and diabetes. They are also most likely to retain weight gained during pregnancy.

The problems get worse as the mothers get older, indicating a cumulative effect of stress. (Women of Color Health Data Book, 2005).

Now, I can’t even pretend that I know much about this topic – I don’t, other than to say that I am familiar with some of the statistics and the search for understanding them. I hope that some readers who are more familiar comment on the opinions in the piece.

For more information on the work being done on this issue, take a look at the Black Women’s Health Imperative, which hosted a conference last week in celebration of their 25th anniversary. They don’t appear to have a blog, but you can sign up for a newsletter.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:02 pm June 29th, 2008 in Culture, Government, Health Care, Illness, Mental health, Parenting, Politics, Science, Women 

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