Thread by @fivexmore

From 2015-2017, Black women were 5x more likely to die in pregnancy & childbirth.

Tomorrow Parliament will debate the petition we started to try and change this - signed by 187,519 people.

What do we want from MPs? THREAD #BlackMaternalHealthDebate
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/3010…

According to the latest MMBRACE #MaternalHealth figures:

Black women are 4x more likely to die in pregnancy & childbirth.

Mixed heritage women are 3x more likely to die in pregnancy & childbirth.

Asian women are 2x more likely to die in pregnancy & childbirth.

UK maternity care is rife with unequal health outcomes.

We want decision makers to acknowledge the disparities between Black women and their white counterparts in their experiences of pregnancy and childbirth within the NHS and commit to closing these gaps #protectblackwomen

In our recent consultation with 415 participants, we found that Black women overwhelmingly felt they were not given advice to make an informed decision about other choices aside from standard vaginal birth #knowledgeispower

We want decision makers and the NHS to recognise Black women are often not given the right information to make informed decisions about their pregnancy and childbirth.

We want them to ensure more is done to ensure Black women can advocate for themselves in healthcare.

That means meaningfully engaging Black women in improving their experiences of maternal health services #listentoblackwomen

It's not just about listening, it's also about empowering Black women and acting on what they have to say #empowerblackwomen

The @HumanRightsCtte reported that the NHS currently "has no target" to end racial disparities in maternal care.

We want decision makers to examine the NHS's role in perpetuating the issues faced by Black women from quality of treatment to institutional racism and ethnic coding.

Another good starting point would be implementing the recommendations of this report, including targets to end the disparity in maternal mortality between Black women and white women - a recurring theme of this week's #FiveXmorePM

As @jenny_douglas1 said at our public meeting this week, "maternal mortality is the tip of the iceberg".

There's also a very real need for richer data and better data collection in many areas, particularly around near misses #makeblackbirthbetter

But ultimately, we won't eliminate racism anywhere until we eliminate it everywhere.

We want all MPs to challenge the dangerous assumptions that still exist across society, shaping how Black women are perceived and whether we are believed #BlackMaternalHealthDebate