Running Head: RACISM IN THE HEALTHCARE SECTOR 1

RACISM IN THE HEALTHCARE SECTOR 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Racism in the healthcare sector

Student’s name

Institutional affiliation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

The essay will provide a comprehensive analysis and the steps that have been undertaken by various healthcare personnel to eliminate infant mortality and racial disparities in maternal in the United States (Perez, 2011). The essay will review the article by the title “The danger of being pregnant and black in America” written by Miriam Zoila Perez. The Author of the article is a professional writer who also hosts two podcasts, Tonic and Radio Menea.

What did you learn that was new? Discuss at least two significant DETAILS. Be explicit. Show us you read. Describe how the story made you feel as you read it. Again, be specific

One thing that I have learned from the article is that black women are three or four times more likely to face pregnancy-related complications than whites women in the United States. Additionally, minority races such as African American women are two to four times more likely to give birth to a premature child than white women. Black women are also times likely to pass on due to pregnancy related complications than their counterparts white women, and their kids are twice more likely to pass on within the first year after birth than their counterparts white women’s kids.

The other new thing that I have learned is that the high rate of pregnancy complication associated with black women is basically, human right and public health emergency since various researches estimate that a big percentage of those pregnancy complications are medically preventable (Colugnati, Staras, Dollard & Cannon, 2007). The pregnancy complication is also associated with poor living standards among the minority groups in the United States such as poor access to quality healthcare since it is a leading factor among African Americans at a lower socioeconomic level.

African American women are undervalued in the process of seeking medication. They are not taken care of as white women; the black women are dismissed and ignored when they present pregnancy complication symptoms. The story of Jessica Roach made me feel frustrated and pity the American healthcare system. Roach as a healthcare professional ought to be treated better by her counterpart professional despite being a woman of color. The stressful life Roach had experience through her professional contributed immensely to his pregnancy complication. I sympathize with Roach since discrimination in the workplace makes her perform healthcare duties at 120% compared to 80% performed by her counterpart nurses.

Explain how you think race shaped the experience of the author AND how do you think race (experience being racialized) shaped your response to the story if at all.

The race has shaped Zoila’s life in many ways, Zoila started her career as a person who provided to women during pregnancy and birth. Due to a lot of discrimination, she found associated with Women of color during pregnancy she started writing articles that advocated for equality in the healthcare system specifically concerning women’s pregnancy. As a Cuban-American writer has concentrated on how gender and race have affected health. Her current work of writing article concerning racial discrimination has led her to explore complex ways that determine how identity shape care delivery to the women of the color.

According to the article, the author has gained experience in other professional fields by relating poor health care delivery to women of color. For instance, the author has advocated for improvement in the environment and the social conditions such as housing and education, access to healthcare services, and poverty associated with African American women which play a significant role in ensuring quality health black women’s pregnancy.

Through the article, I have realized I can only eliminate health discrimination in the United States through writing and establishing programs intended to improve the health of pregnant women. For instance, Roach is part of the team that advocates for quality care of black women during childbirth and pregnancy in the United States, such programs include Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA), founded in 2006 that works to change research, culture, and policy to better healthcare services for women of the color.

Discuss how information from this course has shaped how you received the information in the story (or how can you connect this to other readings in this course).

The knowledge I have gained from the course I have shaped my thinking on how I have received information from this article. From the course, I learned that minority groups in any developed country face social challenges confronted with numerous webs of problems that negatively affect their wellbeing and health. The course makes a clear relationship between racial discrimination and how it affects individual health. Racial discrimination may lead to physiological stress which affects health through behavior responses.

Individuals who have previously faced discrimination in the healthcare sector may become reluctant to seek medication in those healthcare facilities. Some of the individuals may only seek medication when they are at high risk of losing their lives (Morrison, 2019). The article elaborates on racial discrimination concepts through life experiences faced by Serena Williams, the author of the article, and the healthcare professional, Jessica Roach. Additionally, the three women represent the minority in the United States.

Roach’s pregnancy complication was contributed majorly by the racism and expectations she encountered from her workplace as a nurse. The healthcare system was structured such that he had to perform about 120% of duties compared to 80% performed by the white nurses. According to the course stress emanating from the workplace can lead to pregnancy complications among women. Since the majority of the minority groups do not trust the healthcare systems within the United States, they ended up forming healthcare organizations that only takes care of the black people’s welfare.

In order for the minority to survive discrimination in the healthcare programs, they end up forming programs that unite them through accessible care, consistent, comprehension, early pregnancy checkup which also extend into the child’s early life. The programs also ensure there is adequate psychological support to women who had experienced racial discrimination.

Conclusion

The health status of the minority and the disadvantaged is a topic of increasing scientific relevance and the increasing policy in many developed countries across the globe. The article used in the essay provides evidence that racial discrimination is the main cause of pregnancies related death among black women that have been proven preventable. Policymakers and future researchers should be mindful to eradicate barriers to quality care that lie in the experiences of the healthcare sector itself.

 

 

 

 

References

Colugnati, F. A., Staras, S. A., Dollard, S. C., & Cannon, M. J. (2007). Incidence of cytomegalovirus infection among the general population and pregnant women in the United States. BMC infectious diseases, 7(1), 71.

Morrison, J. C. (2019). Resuscitating the Black Body: Reproductive Justice as Resistance to the State’s Property Interest in Black Women’s Reproductive Capacity. Yale JL & Feminism, 31, 35.

Perez, M. Z. (2011). Past and Present Collide as the Black Anti-Abortion Movement Grows. Colorlines, March, 3.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/02/pregnant-black-racial-disparities-maternal-health