When birthing our babies, death is the
equalizer for Black women giving birth by Towan Isom, Isom Global Strategies President and
CEO
WASHINGTON, April 16,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The best day of your life
shouldn't be the most fearful. Women like me, Abby Phillips, Elain Welteroth, and others know
what it means to manifest the life we've always dreamed of. But
when it comes to being a mom, income doesn't matter. For Black and
Brown women, our greatest dream can often be our worst nightmare
because, regardless of our station, when it comes to healthy births
for mothers and infants, the statistics are staggering: Black women
are three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes as
are White women.
Having a child at any age, economic level,
or location should be a celebration, not a crisis.
As a mature woman deciding to be a single mom, I knew that
having my first child at age 49 via IVF (in vitro fertilization)
would have its challenges: no husband and being self-employed
running my own marketing agency for 24 years. I assumed Mr. Right
would come, and I would be a mom of four. I waited years for "the
dream," but it never happened. I was happy and horrified at the
same time. I was scared of the potential nightmare that me and/or
my baby might not survive. You see, for me and many other Black
women, maternal health and pregnancy are bittersweet.
For Black women, whether they are from the inner city or highly
educated with high net worths, maternal health is the great
equalizer beyond income. It is full of racist-adjacent
microaggressions affecting the quality of care received and leading
to worse outcomes. It is manifested in the lack of diversity of
Black-owned agencies awarded federal contracts for messaging health
disparities that impact people of color, particularly Black and
Brown communities. Cultural competency starts with the federal
government being courageous enough to hire minority-owned agencies
to message, market, and disseminate critical components to Black
and Brown communities and healthcare providers.
I knew the stats and was vigilant. I traveled, on average, 100
miles weekly between states and practices to ensure I was being
heard, and while none of my physicians were people of color, they
listened to my concerns and responded. I worked with three doctors
to secure a successful pregnancy, yet despite my commitment and
access, I still delivered at 34 gestational weeks, developed
preeclampsia, and had to have an emergency C-section. With a
toddler in the neonatal intensive unit and lost weeks of bonding
with my infant, I consider myself one of the lucky ones. If it were
not for the GW Hospital and the team of engaged doctors who noticed
my daughter's low heartbeat during a routine visit 6 weeks before
giving birth, I could also have been a statistic. I was
blessed.
The disconnected would have you believe that inequities in
maternal health are about the mother and are solely influenced by
factors such as socioeconomic status, education, geographic
location, and ethnicity, but we now know that not to be true.
Tore Bowie, Shalon Irving, Jasmine
Patton, Kyira Adele Dixon, and many other upper-middle-class
Black women are emblematic of the ongoing inequities that impact
people of color now manifesting in our wombs and the graveyards of
our children. There is no need for abortion because the system sees
that, when it comes to birthing our babies, death is the equalizer
for Black women giving birth.
Organizations such as Health and Human Services, the Center for
Disease Control, and the National Institute of Health, Health
Resources, and Services Administration have much work to do.
Currently working with MedStar Health on health equity and
messaging initiatives, Isom Global Strategies (IGS), my company,
knows the impact of messaging the right way to shift outcomes to
Black and Brown communications. Communication plays an important
role in both patient and physician education and practice. We need
to message the right way with the right words and the right
solutions for us. That messaging is also being hindered by
organizations and their lack of diversity in their outreach
efforts. I can't tell you how often we evaluate messaging by
organizations that clearly have no diversity on their teams. There
is a direct connection between a lack of diversity in outreach and
education and health disparities.
The difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated already
dire challenges to maternal health services due to healthcare
system strains, reduced access to care, and increased economic
pressure on families. We need to recruit biology students at
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), establish
birthing facilities (as opposed to hospitals) at every stage of
pregnancy for mental and physical wellness, and implement a
national initiative for recruiting doulas and midwives. We should
offer wraparound services for all incomes: low-income aids for how
to access local resource services, and counseling for even high net
worth individuals. It's been two years since having my daughter,
and I'm just starting to come out of a serious postpartum
depression, about which I had known nothing.
By increasing access to skilled birth attendants, expanding
access to family planning and reproductive health services, and
addressing social determinants of health access to high-quality
care before, during, and after childbirth, we can bring about
change and reduce maternal mortality and morbidity in the United States in 10 years. Continued
investment in maternal health, addressing inequalities, and
ensuring that all women have resources are easy fixes.
Having a child at any age, economic level, or location should be
a celebration, not a crisis, but as of late, abortion and a woman's
right to choose have been at the forefront of the election cycle.
If only we could care about the Black women and babies living as
much as the unborn; I'm afraid we have a long way to go.
About the author:
Towan Isom is the President and
CEO of Isom Global Strategies (IGS), a marketing and communications
firm known for its impactful health equity campaigns. As a woman of
color and mother who has navigated the complexities of maternal
health firsthand, Towan brings a deeply personal and professional
commitment to addressing the disparities in healthcare.
About Isom Global Strategies:
Isom Global Strategies (IGS) is a strategic communications and
program management firm specializing in creating campaigns to
improve the lives of Black and Brown communities in various sectors
like healthcare, entrepreneurship, education, technology and
innovation, and military. IGS has primed and successfully executed
over 109 government contracts and task orders. IGS' work is driven
by a belief that the power of informed communication can change
lives and promote equality among all people.
www.isomglobal.com
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