@skynews covered the issue of disparities in maternal mortality rates by ethnicity

@skynews covered the issue of disparities in maternal mortality rates by ethnicity. @mumsandtea & @prosperitys featured in this report as the founders of the @fivexmore campaign. Birth stories were shared, but members of the public took offence to this. It was littered with comments such as "absolute nonsense" or "I had problems in my pregnancy, it's not just black women, why do they also seek attention?"

I was dismayed, but not shocked the level of disbelief, ignorance and outright racist comments under the post on the Sky news IG page.

The MBRRACE report details a yearly enquiry into maternal death rates in the UK to try and understand how improvements can be made across the board. THESE STATS ARE FACTS.

They are not made up because Black & Asian people "want attention" or are just "pulling the race card"

These are stats that have actually steadily grown over time. A few years ago, black women were 3 x more likely to die. Now it's 5. Black bodies are not broken, they are not more defective than white bodies in their abilities to grow and birth a baby. There is a lot of work to do to get to the bottom of what is going on, but one of the first things that needs to be accepted is that racial bias in healthcare does exist.

It does not mean that a particular midwife, nurse or doctor is a bad person, it simply means that the SYSTEM has become so entrenched in a "one size fits all model" based on the medical teachings of white male doctors during colonialisation, that those who dont fit that model (Black, Asian & other ethnic minorites) are often over looked and/or dismissed. It's called unconscious bias and needs fixing.

It really is a problem, remaining in denial just adds fuel to the fire.

Great work Tinuke & Clo, you did a great job and continue to do so with your continual awareness raising 👏🏾