LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Black women are more likely to die during child birth or soon after, and advocates for Black maternal health say there are a number of reasons why, including a lack of support from medical providers when mothers express concerns.
Shanice Nelson thought she knew what to expect when she became pregnant with her third child. After two previous pregnancies, she recognized the signs that something felt off: persistent anxiety, overwhelming thoughts and a deep sense of dread that she would miscarry.
But when she told her OB-GYN about her symptoms, she said they were dismissed as not serious enough for treatment.
“It did feel a little demeaning to hear someone say your grief doesn’t fit the box,” Nelson said.
It wasn’t until two and a half years later that Nelson finally received a diagnosis: perinatal mood and anxiety disorder, or PMAD, a mental health condition that can impact pregnant women and new mothers, affecting their emotional wellbeing and ability to bond with their babies.
“I also remember not wanting to engage with my baby for the first 24-48 hours,” Nelson said. “I was experiencing a perinatal mood and anxiety disorder.”
Nelson shared her story at the Annual Black Maternal Health Symposium at the University of Louisville, where women gathered Monday to highlight the disparities that Black mothers continue to face in healthcare.
Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Advocates say the disparity is often fueled by providers failing to take Black mothers’ concerns seriously, a sentiment echoed by many at the event.
Nurse practitioner Cynethia Bethel-Hines said efforts are being made to change the system.
“There’s a lot of practices within our system,” Bethel-Hines said. “(It’s) not necessarily intentional, but we all have some type of bias, and those get baked into our practices, how we treat patients, what treatments are suggested to them.”
One attendee Monday said a key step toward improving outcomes involves “having more communication with patients about what they want and what they feel like they need.”
Now a vocal advocate for maternal mental health, Nelson said access to culturally competent care changed her life, “coming out of that depression and gathering the resources I needed from providers who look like me and understood my background.”
Her message to other moms: Don’t stop speaking up.
“If the first person doesn’t listen, go tell somebody else,” she said. If they don’t listen, go tell somebody else. Because suffering in silence hurts both the mother and the baby.”
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