Rethinking Bias to Achieve Maternal Health Equity: Changing Organizations, Not Just Individuals

Black women are more likely than White women to experience poor communication during perinatal health care encounters. Disparities in patient-doctor communication and treatment may partially explain why Black women have a twofold higher risk of severe maternal morbidity and a threefold higher risk of pregnancy-related death than White women.

In this article from HIP Investigator Dr. Heidi Brown, researchers address the limitations of existing implicit bias interventions as a strategy for achieving maternal health equity. They then focus on how institutionally sanctioned racial stereotyping harms Black maternal health and marginalizes a key group in the fight for health equity—Black physicians. Finally, they provide strategies to address racial bias in perinatal health care and structural barriers impeding Black physicians’ success.

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