Some will say that Black women in the United States have experienced substantial improvements in health during the last century. But if that’s the case, why do gaping health disparities persist?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)Trusted Source, an estimated 55 out of every 100,000 Black women died in 2020 because of untreated or ignored complications from childbirth (a rate three times higher than that of white women).
Additionally, the personal experience of racism can cause chronic stress that has debilitating health ramifications.
A Black woman with breast cancer is more likely to have a more aggressive cancer if the woman was born in a Jim Crow state. If we’re Black trans women, we’re highly likely to be victims of violence as we made up most of the 57 trans and gender nonconforming people murdered by hate in 2021.
There are so many unnamed Black women who have led untold efforts to mold a better life for themselves, their families, and their communities. Together, today, we can do more for them and for each other than we ever have been able to before.
Racism and discrimination in healthcare are real and generational. Agency workers, clinic staff, healthcare providers, and community workers can help us bring about equitable and permanent fixes to the disparities we face. They can begin this lifesaving work by being open to and enabling the identification and reprogramming of the harmful and inaccurate implicit biases that harm Black women.
Read more at PsychCentral.com.
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