Title: Why are black women at such high risk of dying from pregnancy complications? | American Heart Association
Headings: Why are black women at such high risk of dying from pregnancy complications?
Published: February 20, 2019
Why are black women at such high risk of dying from pregnancy complications?
American Heart Association News Stories

Content: Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's partly why the overall rate of pregnancy-related deaths has climbed over the past two decades, making the maternal mortality rate in the United States the worst in any industrialized country, according to a 2016 analysis published in the journal The Lancet. "It's basically a public health and human rights emergency because it's been estimated that a significant portion of these deaths could be prevented," said Dr. Ana Langer, director of the Women and Health Initiative at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. The reasons behind the racial disparities are many and complex, she said. Lack of access and poor quality of care are leadings factors, particularly among women at lower socioeconomic levels. But there's a bigger problem, Langer said. " Basically, black women are undervalued. They are not monitored as carefully as white women are. When they do present with symptoms, they are often dismissed." That's what happened to Williams when she experienced a pulmonary embolism a day after giving birth to her daughter via cesarean section.