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JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Health disparities continue to impact disadvantaged populations across the nation, including Mississippi.
Life expectancy, mortality rates and health disparities are affecting Black women at an alarming rate.
“I just want to raise up Malcolm X’s quote in the 1960s where he said, ‘The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman,’” said Dr. Shawnita Sealy-Jefferson, an associate professor at Ohio State University.
Sealy-Jefferson said more needs to be done to save the lives of Black women in Mississippi and across the United States.
“There is a lot more that needs to be done to address the root causes of these inequities in health. And that has never been done because what we see is, is worsening inequities in population health over time,” she explained.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than their white counterparts.
“Compared to other industrialized nations that unite, the rates of maternal mortality in the United States are increasing, and they are not increasing in our poor countries, which says something very specific, especially when the majority of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable,” stated Sealy-Jefferson.
She said representation is important and that encouraging African Americans to enter the healthcare field is just one way to combat the crisis.
“Nurses, you know, all health care professionals. We do have a problem with lack of diversity across the board, and that’s something that urgently needs to be a part of the solution to some of these health disparities that we see,” Sealy-Jefferson said.
She stated that the lack of access to care and mental health resources contributes to the problem.
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