Improving Maternal Health Outcomes of African American Women in Washington D.C. (Essay Sample)

IMPROVING MATERNAL HEALTH OUTCOMES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN IN WASHINGTON D.C.
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City and State
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Introduction
Maternal health is critical because it is one of the Millennium Development Goals (goal 5). World Health Organization defines maternal health as the health of women before, during, and after pregnancy. Maternal health is a global issue because goal 5 of the millennium development goal (MDG) is reducing maternal mortality (UNFPA, 2014). Poor maternal health among Black American women is caused by various factors such as racial discrimination, socioeconomic factors, and health care inequality. For example, Black women earn only 63 cents for every dollar that white, non-Hispanic men earn (National Partnership for Women & Families, 2018). Washington D.C. is the focus of this paper because it is the leading city in the United States with the highest maternal mortality rate recording 36 deaths in every 100,000 live births (Russell, Rodehau & Quinn, 2018). Although the city has the highest maternal mortality rate in the country, black women are the most affected group. This report addresses how African American women's maternal health in Washington, DC, can be improved. The report will discuss the problem in detail and its implications. The report will also provide a critique of the current interventions addressing the issue and practical recommendations on how maternal health among Black American women can be improved.
Discussion of the problem and its implications
Health characteristics of women before pregnancy in Washington DC
Table 1 below shows the health characteristics of women after pregnancy in Washington, D.C., during 2015-2016. It is crucial to understand women's health characteristics, as presented in the table below because they contribute to the maternal health outcome of black women.
Table 1: Health characteristics of women after pregnancy in Washington D.C during 2015-2016.
Source: DC Birth Data, Vital Records Division, Centre for Policy, Planning and Evaluation, D.C. Department of Health
From the above table, black women experience high previous preterm birth (birth after 37 weeks) with 9157 cases against 5981 among the whites (District of Columbia, 2018). High preterm birth among black women indicates that most of them give premature birth, leading to a high infant mortality rate. The table also shows that more black women (420) gave birth to underweight children against 252 among the whites (District of Columbia, 2018). The number of women smoking after pregnancy is also high among non-Hispanic black women, with 7.05% against whites' 0.95% (District of Columbia, 2018). Diabetes and hypertension were also high among the non-Hispanic blacks compared to the whites. The above statistics show that black women are more likely to suffer from pregnancy-related complications than the whites in D.C. because the health characteristics presented above are risk factors for maternal health (WHO-Europe, 2012).
Racism and maternal health outcome 
Racism is still high in the United can contribute to high maternal and infant mortality rates among African American women. According to Novoa, Hamm & Phadke (2019), black women experience poor maternal health than white women regardless of their education level or income. This means that so long as racism is still there, black women will continue experiencing poor maternal health, including those with high income because they will suffer from other psychological effects such as stress. Structural racisms exist in the U.S. healthcare system. The existence of structural racism means that black women receive poor quality care than whites. The inherent bias that exists in the American health system leads to suboptimal care for black women. According to Simons (2019), black women are sometimes ignored by healthcare workers due to racial bias that exists. Healthcare workers and social service providers also do not treat black women with respect and dignity when they are in pain due to racism. Racism can also trigger biological processes during women's sensitive developmental period, thus affecting them physically and mentally (Solomon, 2018). For instance, the stress that black women endure throughout their life can affect them during pregnancy leading to premature births. The long-term psychological effect of racism can also trigger other medical conditions, such as hypertension and diabetes that threaten black women and their infants (Solomon, 2018).