BALTIMORE — Black women in the United States are more than three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women, according to the CDC — a staggering and persistent disparity that researchers, advocates, and healthcare professionals are still trying to solve.
Dr. Tosin Adebayo, an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Towson University, studies Black women’s maternal healthcare experiences. For her, the work is both academic and deeply personal.
“This is not a new problem,” Adebayo says. “We've talked about maternal mortality among the Black race for years, for decades. And if something is not changing, then probably that's a larger conversation for scholars and practitioners to interrogate and see what is going on. Every other racial group has seen a decrease—except Black women.”
Adebayo’s interest in Black maternal health began with her own experiences giving birth to her three daughters.
“Reading all these scary things about Black women dying and passing away from pregnancy, I thought, oh my God, I'm in the demographic. Is this going to happen to me,” said Adebayo.
Her research focuses on communication, or the lack there of. Specifically, how the interactions between patients and providers can either enhance or hinder the quality of care.
“What am I hearing? How am I making sense of what my provider is telling me? Do I feel safe enough to talk to my provider? Do I feel comfortable enough to ask questions?” Adebayo explains.
Too often, she says, Black women are forced to become their own advocates in medical spaces.
“Unfortunately, it is a real skill that you have to develop because sometimes you are not listened to,” she says. “You have to place demands on what you want for your own health and not allow others to project their implicit biases onto you.”
Adebayo stresses that the problem is multi-faceted, rooted in systemic issues like racial discrimination, microaggressions, and broader social determinants of health ranging from education and housing to access to quality providers.
“Lack of trust which we know that has a history with African American women's health, but not just lack of trust,” she adds, “to also not have that race concordant care. There’s ample research that shows African American women are more comfortable with healthcare providers who are of the same race—they understand their history, their perspective.”
One concept that troubled Adebayo during her research was what she calls “colorblind healthcare.”
Towson professor tackles communication breakdown in Black Maternal Healthcare
“You hear things like, ‘I just treat my patients, I don’t see race.’ I think that’s problematic,” she says. “Because the experiences of African American women are not shaped by being seen as just a person. They are shaped by several factors we can’t shy away from.”
As part of her work, Adebayo would attend prenatal appointments.
“I was actually in the delivery room with this woman and she just wanted me to observe what was happening—and at some point, she needed someone to speak up for her,” she said.
But Adebayo knows she can’t be in every room. Her goal is to use her research to influence change—by improving communication practices, increasing awareness, and pushing for systemic solutions.
“The disconnect here is that we are not talking to one another,” she says. “Eighty percent of maternal mortality cases are preventable. There are things that could have been caught early on. But how are we coming together to create a layered approach to solving the problem of Black maternal mortality.”
