43 min

5. The Stress of Being Black and Pregnant, with Karen Sheffield-Abdullah Maternal Health Innovation

    • Medicine

Black women have twice the rate of preterm birth compared to white women, and that has persisted despite decades of research, despite differences in socioeconomic status, maternal education, access to prenatal care. When you pair or look at a Black woman and a white woman who are pregnant, the Black woman will have their baby early at twice the rate of white women. Nurse midwife, mindfulness teacher, and adjunct professor Karen Sheffield-Abdullah is trying to figure out why.

Black women have twice the rate of preterm birth compared to white women, and that has persisted despite decades of research, despite differences in socioeconomic status, maternal education, access to prenatal care. When you pair or look at a Black woman and a white woman who are pregnant, the Black woman will have their baby early at twice the rate of white women. Nurse midwife, mindfulness teacher, and adjunct professor Karen Sheffield-Abdullah is trying to figure out why.

43 min