black women

Ensuring a safe, positive birthing experience for black women: Health information brought to you by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

“I have never been sick a day of my life. I don’t smoke. I rarely drink. Breast cancer does not run in my family. And yet, here I am with stage three breast cancer,” Sidner, 51, said on air.

Black patients had worse breast cancer outcomes than their white counterparts, according to researchers at Mass General Cancer Center who also noted other factors that contribute to survival rates.

Obstetric racism. Those words hung in the air during the EQTY 2023: A Summit for Health Justice Conference held in Boston last month. At the time, a panel of doctors and community activists addressed critical questions related to “Equity in Pregnancy.”

As Dr. Melissa L. Gilliam made the rounds at Boston University last week, she met with students, faculty, and staff, and expressed elation after her history-making choice as BU’s next president.

One pregnant Black mother-to-be reported that her doctor minimized her concerns about whether her chronic hypertension would harm her while giving birth. Another said she could not get her doctor to listen to her about her health issues.

A.V. Rockwell wrote and directed her debut feature film “A Thousand and One,” which won the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at Sundance this year. The film opens nationwide March 31.