Black mothers continue to face health disparities in the US

[0:00] In our spotlight, the CDC and other agencies have called Black maternal health in the United States an urgent public health crisis. [0:08] Black mothers continue to face serious health disparities during pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum. [0:15] And Black Maternal Health Week, observed annually, aims to amplify the voices of Black mothers [0:21] and raise awareness to address inequities when it comes to health care and maternal mortality for Black women and babies. [0:28] Joining me now is Dr. Bayo Currie-Winchell, a family medicine physician and founder of Clinicians Who Care. [0:35] Dr. Bayo, thank you so much for joining us and being here in studio. [0:38] Thank you for having me. [0:39] Absolutely. [0:40] So your advocacy actually started because of a personal experience that you had. [0:47] Tell to us about that. [0:49] Yes. [0:49] I had just delivered my second child via C-section. [0:52] I came out of the operating room and I immediately knew something was wrong. [0:56] And that came through having a hard time talking, feeling pain that I'd never felt before. [1:02] And so when I voiced that with my nurse, she said, you look fine. [1:05] Everything looks fine. [1:06] So after three times of being dismissed, being told that my vital signs were normal, I asked [1:11] my husband to call my doctor using, because I had his number. [1:15] He calls my doctor. [1:16] He comes over and he immediately knew something wasn't right. [1:20] Takes me back to the operating room. [1:22] And we find out that I'm bleeding internally, got transfused multiple units. [1:27] And so this is very personal to me because I want people to know when you hear the statistic [1:32] of black women dying at three to four times the rate, it doesn't matter about your access, [1:36] your social economics. [1:38] It is happening to black women every day. [1:41] And it's incredible to hear. [1:43] And I'm so sorry that you had to go through that. [1:45] I'm so thankful that they were able to save you. [1:48] But why is this still happening in 2026? [1:51] I mean, we've heard of this happening for years and for decades, but it's for some, it [1:56] might be difficult to hear that this is still happening today. [1:59] It starts with believing black women, believing when they say something isn't right. [2:05] And that is the initial step to be able to discover why they are saying something isn't [2:10] right. [2:11] And so when we can start there, that's when we can lean into the fact that bias, our healthcare [2:16] system is broken. [2:18] And this statistic of black women dying at the highest rate is a part of that problem. [2:23] What do you think are the root causes of the disparities in maternal healthcare as it [2:27] pertains to black women? [2:29] What is the root cause here? [2:32] The root cause is understanding that, of course, our system is broken. [2:35] But when black women go in to bring life into this world and they share that something isn't [2:41] right, that something they feel is not right with their baby, they are not listened to. [2:45] They are dismissed. [2:46] They are told that, no, what you are saying to me isn't really something that I need to [2:51] look into. [2:51] So that root cause of not initiating and doing something with what they share with you is [2:57] the problem right there. [2:58] So you can have, you know, the best clinics, you can have very fancy systems, but if we don't [3:04] start with at the bedside, listening and believing black women, we're going to miss that mark. [3:10] And that is why we are here at the same rate in 2026. [3:14] And they're continuing to speak up for themselves. [3:17] But like you're like you said, they're not being listened to. [3:20] Talk to us about clinicians who care. [3:22] So because of your personal experience, what you've seen as a physician, you started clinicians [3:27] who care. [3:28] Talk to us about that. [3:29] I did. [3:29] It was inspired by my own story. [3:31] And it's all centered on connecting people with doctors who have shown to provide compassionate [3:37] care. [3:37] Think of how many times a friend has called you and said, do you know the name of a doctor [3:41] that you love or trust? [3:43] And so this list serves people around the world. [3:46] And it has names of clinicians that have been shown and nominated by other people that have [3:51] provided compassionate care. [3:53] We have over 5,000 names worldwide. [3:55] It started organic. [3:56] This is a community, a community of people helping other people, and it's working. [4:01] And we can see we were scrolling your website there on the screen. [4:05] What type of tools or just education do physicians today need to help women of color? [4:12] The first step is investing in bias training and realizing that we all have bias. [4:17] And I give a definition to that. [4:19] It's our own thoughts of how people look, look, behave, and our own kind of personal thoughts. [4:25] And so when you can understand that that exists, it allows you to be able to put that to the [4:30] side and provide true care. [4:32] The other thing is investing in representation. [4:35] Because if we can have more people of color, that can be a real difference. [4:40] As a black female physician, I represent less than 3% of physicians in the U.S. [4:44] And that's not acceptable. [4:45] We need to have more women of color to serve our population. [4:50] So those are two real ways that we can move that needle to help that black woman who is [4:54] going to give birth tomorrow. [4:57] Physicians that can represent basically what the country looks like. [5:00] Well, thank you so much for the work that you're doing and sharing with us what we need [5:05] to see and the change that needs to happen. [5:07] Thank you, Dr. Bayou. [5:08] Thank you. [5:09] We'll be right back after the break. [5:11] Thank you. [5:11] Thank you.