Challenge-public-health-day2 - United Way of Westchester and Putnam

PUBLIC HEALTH: DAY 2 MATERNAL AND INFANT MORTALITY

America is the most dangerous wealthy country in the world to give birth. This is, in part, due to the dramatic racial disparities in maternal and infant mortality. Toxic stress and bias in medical care mean that women of color are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications.

In Westchester, between 2012 and 2016, Black infants had a mortality rate four times greater than white infants and were five times more likely to be admitted to the hospital for asthma as compared to white children from birth to 17 years old. Black mothers experience unacceptably poor maternal health outcomes, including disproportionately high rates of death related to pregnancy or childbirth, with New York City leading the pack.

Racism is a public health crisis and it is time to treat it as such.

Read this article on how the negative impact of institutional racism on maternal and infant mortality for Native American women closely parallels that of Black women.

In the US, black babies die at twice the rate of white babies. Read this article about the infant mortality gap and what black doulas doing to change it.

Read the NYS Taskforce on Maternal Mortality and Disparate Racial Outcomes’ recommendations to the Governor to Reduce Maternal Mortality and Racial Disparities

Watch this interview featuring Stacey D. Stewart, the President and CEO of March of Dimes, where she and her co-panelists grapple with the growing maternal health crisis, and how to provide every mother the best care.

These articles were curated by a local committee to be used as a list of resources pertinent to DEI topics. The 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge Committee would like to thank and give attribution to those who created the content above, which reflects their individual perspectives. We do not support nor endorse any advertisements associated with the above content.

Take Action:

Talk to your company/organization’s HR Department about their parental leave policy and other systems in place to support new parents.