The black women Across America, in both the North and South of the continent, there is “a historical and systematic pattern of racial abuse in the health care sector” in the prior treatment or during childbirth, according to a study released this Tuesday by the UN People’s Fund (UNFPA) .
The report thus explains the higher maternal mortality rate among Afro-Colombian mothers, which is commonly attributed to lifestyle, hereditary predisposition or poor health, while the study shows that black women “are”. systematically neglected or abused‘, resulting in complicated pregnancies and deliveries and delays in medical procedures.
Only 11 of America’s 35 countries collect data with racial criteria – UNFPA warns – meaning countries without such data make the racial issue “invisible,” but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
The report uncovers “systematic racism and sexism” after analyzing issues such as prenatal care, teenage pregnancy and the professional level of care
The report analyzes topics such as prenatal care, teenage pregnancy, access to contraceptives or the professional level of medical care and states that “a racism and a sexism systematically”.
A concrete example is the statement of an Afro-Brazilian woman: “You notice that a light-skinned person enters the practice and the doctors take more time with them; “When a black guy does it, it comes out quickly,” he says.
He also cites the Panama case, where the black and indigenous youth They drop out of the school system almost automatically when they become pregnant, even though the law guarantees that they can continue studying if they do.
Racial and sexist discrimination
draws attention to itself Racial imbalance in Americawhere a black woman is three times more likely to die in childbirth, and not even a college degree completely closes that gap, as among women with higher degrees, a black woman has a 1.6 times greater risk die as a white.
Racial imbalance is striking in the United States, where a black woman is three times more likely to die in childbirth
“The scourge of racism continues for Black women and girls in America, many of whom are descendants of those who were enslaved,” UNFPA Executive Director said. Natalia Kanemwho pointed out that the abuse is not always very obvious, but sometimes consists of “not taking seriously” the needs of a pregnant woman of color.
The report, co-authored with UN-Women, the Pan American Health Organization and UNICEF, points to a few action lines to put an end to these structural differences: to medical schools that they “cleanse their curricula of racist ideology”; and to hospitals that they are “instituting special policies to prevent abuse of women of African descent.”
Right: Creative Commons.