Is racism harming the health of women?
September is Infant Mortality Awareness Month. Throughout the month, our Executive Director will be highlighting some of the changes coming under Cradle Cincinnati’s new strategic plan. Women in the United States with Arabic last names saw a 34% increase in their rates of preterm birth in the six months following September 11th. Meanwhile, other groups saw no change at all. Why? What changed for that group of women? One theory is that a sharp increase in harassment, violence and workplace discrimination for the Arab community – and the coinciding increased stress due to the bias around them – led to this change in birth outcomes.The public health community has long understood that your race can have a profound impact on your health. An increasing body of evidence suggests that racism itself is a key factor responsible for these differences. African American women, regardless of socioeconomic status, are 2-4 times more likely to experience infant loss. There are no known biological reasons for this difference. As part of our strategic planning process, the Hamilton County community has asked the partners of Cradle Cincinnati to address racial bias in prenatal care as one way to reduce this disparity.This will not be an easy conversation. But, we must have the courage to take it on. Too often, our conversations on race devolve into blame, defensiveness and inaction. What if, rather than starting with “I’m not a racist,” I started with “How might I more fully make you feel welcome here?” Of course racial bias is not always intentional, but that may not matter. How pregnant women of color perceive our interactions – no matter our intentions – is what will impact the health of their pregnancies. With such high stakes, what if we went out of our way to acknowledge them and their unique experiences?Cradle Cincinnati will be working to tackle these tough issues over the next 5 years. We have no illusions that we will be able to eliminate racism in that time, but we do hope to play a role in creating a safer and more welcoming city for us all. We’ll start with projects that help bring awareness to our own unconscious bias and that strengthen patient-provider relationships in our community. Want to be a part of this change? Get connected by emailing dorian.mundy@cchmc.org