In America, infant and maternal mortality is much higher than any other westernized, developed country. However, the problem proves to be even more troubling when race is added to the scenario. This is what led Katie Knop, a sociology professor at Winthrop, to give a lecture entitled, “Racial Disparities in Infant and Maternal Mortality: Systemic Inequalities in South Carolina and Beyond” to Winthrop students and faculty.
In America, the infant mortality rate for African Americans is 11.5 deaths per 1,000 births, while the rate for white infants is 5.3 deaths per 1,000 births. To bring it even closer to home, in Charleston, South Carolina, African American infants are 6.5 times more likely to die than white infants.
This racial disparity is seen with maternal mortality rates as well. The rate of maternal mortality for African Americans in South Carolina is 56.7 deaths per 100,000 births while the white maternal mortality rate is 13.1 deaths per 100,000 births. In 2011-2015, black women were 3.7 times more likely to die during childbirth in South Carolina than white women. The national average in America for maternal mortality rate is very similar to that of South Carolina
However, while this disparity is so large, many people still have no idea of this problem.
One Winthrop student, Nyssa Hemingway, who attended Knop’s talk admitted to only coming to the event due to it being a requirement by her HMXP teacher. She said she had no idea that this problem even existed.
“I honestly had never heard about mortality rates or infant mortality so I learned a lot, actually. I didn’t know there was such a high rate [maternal and infant mortality] in the U.S., especially compared to other countries, that was alarming,” Hemingway said.
During the talk, Knop discussed why these racial disparities could be occurring. One reason she gave was due to the fact that African American women, from years of discrimination, face higher poverty rates which leads to less African American women having health insurance. However, this reason — as pointed out by Knop — proves not to make complete sense. This is because a recent study from the CDC found that an African American woman with an advanced degree is more likely to lose her baby than a white woman without an eighth grade education.
Therefore, it seems that economic status does not always play a role when it comes to racial disparity in maternal mortality. The one factor that remains constant is race, leading many researchers to believe racial discrimination is the main cause for the large racial disparity in infant and maternal mortality.
According to Knop, hospitals serving a predominantly black population have been shown to provide lower quality of maternal care. There has also been documented cases of racial discrimination encounters. For example, African American women are less likely to receive treatment recommendations.
“Serena Williams’s experience of pregnancy and delivery kind of illustrates this…she has a history of blood clots, has a blood clot disorder that is well documented. She almost died of a blood clot several years ago, and several years later became pregnant and last year delivered her baby…everything was looking okay afterward and then the day afterward she started to experience what she knew in her body was a blood clot…and she told the nurses ‘I need a CT scan and I think I’m having a pulmonary embolism’…and basically the nurses initially dismissed her concerns…and [Williams] really had to push and advocate for her own well-being and livelihood in this interaction,” Knop said.
Knop discussed how Williams, one of the most famous women in the world, showcases how even high profile black women are often times not listened to by health professionals and the problem may even be worse for everyday African American women.
The talk concluded with audience members asking what is being done about this and what other countries are doing to be so much better than the United States in this regard. Knop noted that most other countries have a universal health care system, unlike America. This type of system makes sure everyone is insured and has much lower costs for hospital stays, allowing women to stay longer in the hospital after childbirth. Knop also pointed out that other westernized countries offer pregnant women more options for how they would like to be cared for during pregnancy from midwives to doulas (a birth companion/coach) to at-home births.
In all, the talk showcased the alarming statistics of infant and mortality rates in America leaving many to wonder if this is yet another issue caused by America’s for-profit healthcare system.
