Understanding Healthcare Disparities and Identifying Supportive Spaces and Services That Aim To Reduce Morbidity and Mortality and Hospital Re-admittance of African American Women and Their Babies

Abstract

Introduction: Black women are more than 3 times as likely to die from pregnancy related deaths, and their babies are more than 50% more likely to be born prematurely(cdc.gov). These realities plague the United States healthcare system as these rates remain high. Supportive spaces for pregnant Black women and birthing persons have shown to increase birthing outcomes within this demographic thus improving patient satisfaction and decreasing patient readmittance and morbidity and mortality rates among their infants and newborns. Methods: A systematic review of 125 articles was conducted using the 2020 PRISMA guidelines to identify the current level of knowledge of maternal mortality among Black women in the United States. Results: Black women are significantly more likely to experience preterm birth of the newborn than are Hispanic and White woman and associated infant hospital readmittance due to this phenomenon. Black infants, have a high infant mortality rate before their first year of life than do other races, as they die at a rate two times that of White infants Conclusions: With Black women having a more than three times likelihood of dying during birth and Black infants being born prematurely more than 50% more than White and Hispanic infants, there is an identified problem with Black maternal and infant health. Keywords: health disparities, maternal mortality, Black women