Black Maternity Deaths in the UK

As I stated in my recent blog post on Stylist’s Black British Women’s Census, Black women are four times more likely to die in childbirth as are white women in the UK. 

I watched the Dispatches report on Black maternity deaths last night.

A report on Black women, Racism and Human Rights produced by the House of Commons and House of Lords Joint Committee last year (2020) showed that Black women were five times more likely to die in childbirth, or within six weeks after childbirth, than were white women. This figure has now dropped to four times, but this drop is not considered to be statistically significant.

The report concluded that Black people’s human rights are not equally protected.

The report found that “over 60% of Black people in the UK do not believe their health is as equally protected by the NHS compared to white people”.

It also found that “85% of black [sic] people are not confident that they would be treated the same as a white person by the police”.

Asian women are twice as likely to die in childbirth as are white women.

You can read the report here or read the summary, conclusions and recommendations here.

According to Dispatches, the system knows there is a problem but has no targets to end this.

Maternal deaths are not the only issue here. A “near miss” is defined as a life-threatening complication or morbidity during or within six weeks after childbirth.

African women (from Africa) are 83% more likely to experience a “near miss” than white women. African Caribbean women are 80% more likely to experience a “near miss” than white women. 

 

Several women described their experiences of maternity care, and mistakes that were made, and there is an ongoing issue about Black patients not being given sufficient pain relief.  This happens on both sides of the Atlantic.  One of the women interviewed was an NHS Consultant who had experienced poor quality treatment as a patient.  

 

I have personally had my own experience of having two different NHS doctors at two different London hospitals try to pressure me into having a hysterectomy I neither needed nor wanted. This was NOT maternity related. It has echoes of what Fanny Lou Hamer called the “Mississippi appendectomy”. 

 

Five X More is an organisation of Black women challenging the statistics and offering mutual support to mothers.

Their petition on addressing disparities in maternity care, which they posted in March/April 2020, has obtained 183,000 signatures, which means it will have to be discussed in Parliament. Five X More found that many mothers were not aware of the statistics.

This reminds me of the Windrush Scandal, where people who were targeted were unaware that many thousands of people were going through the same ordeal.

Five X More have stated that they want:

1) An explanation as to why there is this disparity of maternity care for Black women and white women; and

2) Action to be taken to address this issue.

Their target is for 85% of women to receive continuity of carers, i.e. the same midwife and team, throughout pregnancy and childbirth.

If we really believe that Black Lives Matter, we MUST address disparities in healthcare for Black men and women.

Why Are Black Women Less Likely To Stick With A Breast Cancer Follow-Up Treatment?

Black Women and Breast Cancer

Niasha Fray used to counsel women about sticking with their cancer treatment.  Then she was diagnosed with breast cancer and  started to experience first-hand what her counselling clients went through. 

Black women are less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer, but are 40% more likely to die from it.  The disparity can be even higher for other cancers.

According to this article, part of the reason for this is that Black women are less likely to stick with follow-up treatment. 

If African American women -  and men - are less likely to attend follow-up appointments or stick with the treatment, there could be many reasons for this.  They could be finding it harder to pay for the treatment.  Finances are often a factor.  They may find it difficult to have to take time off from work; transport may be a problem.

Black patients tend to do better with Black doctors.  There may be other psychological, emotional or social factors involved. Read this article to find out more about this topic. 

To find out about my cancer journey, go here for my Cancer Journals. 

Please share your responses below and please share this with your networks.  Thanks.

How Stress Contributes to Our Health Issues

Relaxation and Stress Release

You are probably aware that people of African heritage are more prone to particular health issues, notably diabetes, heart disease and some cancers, as well as mental health issues.

Did you know that chronic, long-term long-term, stress underlies a lot of health problems?

Living in a racist society obviously contributes to our long-term stress. 

These days, we are all experiencing a lot more stress. It can raise your blood pressure, it can lower your immune system. It can do a lot of damage. Stress causes physical health problems, as well as mental and emotional problems. And it can make existing problems worse.

Click here for a FREE consultation and  for help with relieving your anxiety and stress. I can provide you with an individual, personal journey to help you to relax, and to draw on your powers of physical, mental and emotional healing.

See also:  How to Get the Results You Want.   

Here's to your success!

Did You Know the American Diabetes Association Tried to Shut This Down?

Did you know you can reverse your Type 2 diabetes?  I did it!  Hooray!!   I came off Metformin more than a year ago, and I am still off it. 

DeWayne McCulley, author of Death to Diabetes, was volunteering his services, teaching people how to reverse their diabetes and come off the meds, when someone from the American Diabetes Association came in to tell him his services were no longer required. 

African Americans have some of the highest rates of diabetes in the U.S.  Check out these statistics from the American Diabetes Association. 

Diabetes in the U.S. Breakdown by Race 

Go here for more about Death to Diabetes. 

Go here for more ways to reverse Type 2 Diabetes and many other serious health issues. 

 Please share this with your networks and please leave your comments below.  Thanks. 

Here's to your health!  

Where You Live May Determine Whether You Get Diabetes

As I am sure you are aware, Black people are statistically more likely to contract Type 2 diabetes.  

Did you know you can reverse your Type 2 diabetes?  I did it!  Hooray!!  

Even though a diabetes nurse told me recently that it's "not possible" to reverse your diabetes after the first couple of years.  It is totally possible.  

Check out this book:  Death to Diabetes.  DeWayne McCulley woke up from a diabetic coma - and describes in detail how he reversed the disease.  The hospital wanted to amputate his legs but, with the help and support of his mother and daughter, he resisted this and reversed his diabetes.   

Type 2 diabetes is a disease of cellular damage.  Heal and reverse the damage and you can reverse the disease.  

And now, they are saying that where we live can determine whether or not we get diabetes. Environmental pollution may be to blame.  This may particularly affect Black people and deprived communities.  Click here to read more.  

And for more about health issues that specifically relate to Black people, and what we can do about them, click here to download my ebook Why We Need to Heal.  

Civil Rights, Fannie Lou Hamer, Black Women and Hysterectomy

Fannie Lou Hamer after Beating

I found this by accident on Wikipedia while looking up something else. Fannie Lou Hamer, who later became a reknowned Civil Rights leader, was given a hysterectomy at the age of 32 in order to prevent her from producing children.

If you don't know what happened to Hamer during the voter registration drives of the 1960s, what the police did to her, you really need to.  So please google her name.

Hamer had gone into hospital to have a tumour removed, and during that surgery, the hysterectomy was performed without her consent. This is just another way Black women's reproduction has been controlled by the authorities for generations.

If you have listened to my Cancer Journals, you know that I had a hysterectomy last year as a result of my diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Prior to that, when I was still of childbearing age, two different doctors at two different London hospitals try to force me to have a hysterectomy.

Hamer's surgery was performed in 1961 and she later coined the phrase “Mississippi appendectomy” because this practice was very established as a way of removing and preventing Black women's ability to reproduce. So this tactic, which was common in Mississippi in the early 1960s, was still being employed in London in the 1980s and '90s. I was never given any good reason or explanation for why I should undergo this surgery until my cancer diagnosis last year.

Experiments on Black women formed the basis of gynecology. For more about this, see: 

Anarcha, Lucy and Betsey: The Mothers of Modern Gynecology.  

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Click here for my Cancer Journals. And remember, Black Lives Matter. 

Go here for more Black history blog posts.   

Please leave your comments below and please share this with your networks. Thanks.

Anarcha, Lucy and Betsey: The Mothers of Modern Gynecology

As you may know, the speculum was developed via experiments performed on enslaved Black women.

Dr. Marion Sims, who conducted many of these experiments, has been called the “father of modern gynecology” and is credited with inventing the speculum. 

Meanwhile, the enslaved Black women on whom he experimented have largely been forgotten. They were experimented on without anaesthesia and without dignity, and some of them died under his “care”. 

Anarcha, Lucy and Betsey were three such women whose names we should, we must, recall.

Just part of the history of how Black women's bodies have been treated in the name of “healthcare".   

Click here for an excellent NPR show, Remembering Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey: The Mothers of Modern Gynecology.

See also: Black Women Sue Johnson & Johnson over Ovarian Cancer.

Please share this with your networks and please leave your comments below.  Thanks. 

Black Women Sue Johnson & Johnson over Ovarian Cancer

Johnson & Johnson's Baby Powder

As you may know, Black women in the United States have been suing Johnson & Johnson over revelations that the company promoted its baby powder heavily in the Black community.  More than 1,000 women are currently suing J & J.

Many Black women, my mother included, sprinkled baby powder or other talcum-based powder in their panties every day for reasons of hygiene.

Johnson & Johnson have profited from targeting their baby powder at Black women despite the fact that it has been known since the 1970s that there is a link between talcum powder, the main ingredient of Johnson & Johnson baby powder, and ovarian cancer. I have known this for many years, as has J&J. For many Black women, the repeated use of talcum powder has been a death sentence.

One woman, Jacqueline Fox, won $72 million in a lawsuit against Johnson &Johnson, but unfortunately, she did not live to see the result.

See also: Johnson & Johnson Reportedly Pushed Talcum Powder on Black Women. There are loads of stories like this online at the moment.

Add to this the fact that Black men and women often present late with a range of cancers. I explored this in my chapter on Cancer Black Care in Black Success Stories. For more about this, see my Cancer Journal 12.

As a survivor of ovarian cancer (which was NOT related to use of talcum powder), this is obviously affecting me deeply. I fought to get to see the doctor I wanted and he eventually diagnosed the cancer, before it even had any symptoms.

Early diagnosis is crucial. Patients who are diagnosed early have a 90% chance of survival, but this drops to just 20% with late diagnosis.

If you have any concerns at all, please, please get yourself checked out.

Plus did you know that Black women with fibroids have a higher risk of endometrial cancer?

Please share this with your networks and please leave your comments below.  Thanks. 

Black Women With Fibroids Face Higher Risk Of Endometrial Cancer

Black women and fibroids

Click here for my Cancer Journals. 

We have known for many years that Black women are more likely than other women to have fibroids.  Up till now, fibroids have been considered to be benign tumours, although they can cause problems including heavy periods, pain and infertility.  They are commonly treated by surgery and can lead to hysterectomy.  They can also be treated using herbal medicine. 

Now, a study from Boston University has shown that Black women with a history of fibroids have a 40% increased risk of developing cancer of the womb lining (endometrium). 

Click here to read more. 

Cancer Journal 10: Gratitude, Our Healing

Listen below to hear how gratitude is transforming my life.  This is attitudinal healing.  Gratitude is an amazingly strong emotion. 

I am an angry Black woman, and I believe there is a link between anger and cancer.  Listen below for more.  

Check Out Books Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Zhana21 on BlogTalkRadio

Click here for more about the link between anger and cancer.  

Click here for more Cancer Jouirnals.  

Click here to order Success Strategies for Black People.  

Please leave your comments below, and please share this with your networks.  Thanks.  

Cancer Journal 9: Managing the Pain - Or Not

I had a complete hysterectomy at the end of May.  I just could not believe the amount of pain I was in afterwards. 

Listen below for more. 

See also:  Cancer Journal 8:  A Healing Process. 

Click here for more Cancer Journals.  

Please share this with your networks, and please leave your comments below.  Thanks. 

Check Out Books Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Zhana21 on BlogTalkRadio

Cancer Journal 8: A Healing Process

Angry Black Woman

Is there a link between anger and cancer?  Listen below. 

You can always tell when a Black woman is angry.  And we have plenty of reasons to be angry.  Sometimes we have to fight to get the healthcare we want, need and deserve. 

As I said here, I have experienced a lot of anger in my life. 

Click here for more Cancer Journals.

Check Out Books Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Zhana21 on BlogTalkRadio

  

Cancer Journal 7: EFT for Releasing Fear

See below for relaxation audios with effective ways to  release fear and anxiety.  

In addition to anger, I've been experiencing a lot of fear.  Enormous, overwhelming fear.  I am sure this is natural under the circumstances.

I've been doing loads of tapping, but I am not sure how much this has worked.  Then, last week, I did a brilliant tapping session with my EFT practitioner.  She is in South Africa now, so we Skyped.

As I said, it was amazing.  We went back into my childhood to tap on some serious issues including the part of myself that is still damaged from many years of abuse (mainly verbal), and my feelings of unworthiness that stem from the difficulties I experienced.  They still affect me now.

She also had me tap on the fear of fear – maybe I'm scared of being scared.  This really helped.

During the tapping, I let go of a lot of stuff.  I felt so much calmer afterwards. Brilliant.

For more about EFT, click here to download What They Don't Want Us to Know.  Or click here for the free chapter on Achieving Success.   Plus check out these relaxation audios. 

Click here for more in the Cancer Journals series.  

 

Cancer Journal 6: What Are Angels?

Angels Answers Cards

Continuing this blog series “Cancer Journals”, named after Audre Lorde's classic The Cancer Journals. Please leave your comments below. Thanks. 

Click here for more Cancer Journals blog posts.  

I don't know what angels are. That is to say, I don't know what they represent in my belief system. Being a Buddhist, I do not believe in, or worship, a god or a creator of any kind. For many years, even when I was a Christian, I did not believe in the existence of angels, But now, I know that they are real, and I believe they are a beneficial influence. I have experienced profoundly, deeply peaceful mental states when working with angels.

A few months ago, I realised that by my bedside I had several decks of angel cards, two books about angels and an angel diary. I had to concede that I really do believe in their existence.

I remember, many years ago, watching a film in which my teacher Sangharakshita compared angels to Bodhisattvas. At the time, I thought, “why is he talking about angels? Surely he must know they don't exist!” Wow, how wrong can you be?

The angels have guided me (via the cards) to write and publish this blog series. I don't particularly want to do so, but I am always willing to try things and see where they may lead. This could be a healing process for myself and for others. Hence, this series.

Cancer Journal 5: An Angry Life

Angry Black Woman

Continuing this blog series “Cancer Journals”, named after Audre Lorde's classic The Cancer Journals.   Please leave your comments below.  Thanks.

Anger has always been an issue for me.   And even as a young child, I always believed that anger is connected with cancer – if we don't find ways to process our anger effectively.

As Black people, we cary a lot of anger due to the oppression we face, and we have carried that anger for generations. When we carry negative emotions, they block us from attracting the things we want and deserve.  For more about this, see Achieving Success and Why We Need to Heal.

The negative emotions we carry affect our families as well, and I believe they can not only make us prone to disease, but also block our healing process.  But I have long felt the need to hang onto my anger.  It's as if I think it protects me.  I have thought of anger as a protection, a form of armour.  But really, the opposite is true.

This is why I have decided to record a healing meditation to help me let go of any negative emotions and anything that could be blocking my healing process.  It will not just be for people who have cancer, it will be for anyone who needs physical or emotional healing.

I have carried a lot of intense anger and fear in the past, which stems partly from the abuse I experienced growing up.

I'm a lot less angry than I used to be, but I still experience the full range, from mild irritation to annoyance, to anger, rage and fury.  Even lingering resentment can be destructive, as it alienates us from others, and eats away at us from the inside.

I trust that my new healing meditation will help me, and will be beneficial for you, too.  I shall be posting a link in the next few days.

Cancer Journal 4: Brain Freeze

Brain Freeze

Continuing this blog series “Cancer Journals”, named after Audre Lorde's classic The Cancer Journals.  Please leave your comments below.  Thanks. 

 

I saw the hospital psychologist on Friday.  She reckons I am still in shock, and I realise now that I am.  I'm very vague a lot of the time, and I'm having trouble making decisions.

Once I was given the cancer diagnosis, I went into brain freeze.  As my flat fills up with packing materials, my head can hold very little apart from clothes, green candles and similar.  I am usually not that into clothes, but I am turning into one of those women who take ages to decide what to wear.

At times like this, it's useful to have friends who tell me what to do, like the one I talked about here.

Cancer Journal 3: Shopping for Green Candles

Green is the colour of life and health.

Continuing this blog series, “Cancer Journals”, named after Audre Lorde's classic The Cancer Journals.  

Please leave your comments below. Thanks.

I've been shopping like crazy.  I recently received a substantial refund on payment protection insurance (PPI).  (Swings and roundabouts.)  So I am spending it.

A spiritual friend whom I trust implicitly suggested that I chant the White Tara mantra.  I am very drawn to Green Tara, who is extremely beautiful - she is the essence of Compassion.  But I have never been particularly interested in White Tara.  I can't get my head around the thought of a Buddha or Boddhisattva being white.  It just makes no sense to me.

However, on his suggestion, I have started chanting the Green Tara mantra.  He says it increases one's life force energy.  I have been doing the Tara puja (ritual) and I chant both the Green Tara and White Tara mantras during it.

I have completely changed my shrine now.  It has been largely pink for several years.  Pink represents unconditional love, and particularly self-love and self-care.

Now, I have changed it to green and white.  Green is the colour of the heart, the colour of unconditional love and compassion.  It also represents growth, health, prosperity and abundance.

 

So I've been doing lots of shopping for green candles. They are surprisingly hard to find. One shop owner told me someone came in and bought up all the green candles in his shop around St. Patrick's Day.  But that was more than six weeks ago now – come on, man.

So I ended up buying some online.  Big green candles, small green candles, long green candles, short green candles. 

 

Yeah, lots of shopping.  Maybe all this shopping is my way of reaffirming life. I seriously updated my wardrobe online the other day.  Yesterday, my doorbell kept ringing. A steady stream of goodies arrived at my door. Brilliant.  Where to put all this stuff? I'm enjoying it, though.

Still, I need to face the fact that I may not be here next year to enjoy this stuff – or even next month.

Cancer Journal 2: My Diagnosis

Continuing this blog series, “Cancer Journals”, named after Audre Lorde's classic The Cancer Journals.

Below is a letter I sent to my sister, who is a doctor, yesterday.  It is a bit technical, as it gives a few of the details of my diagnosis.

I saw the doctor at the hospital yesterday. I shall be having surgery on ----- and be in hospital for 4-5 days afterwards. The surgeon will be Mr. M----, who was the consultant I was referred to.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions. The cancer is inside a cyst which is either on my right ovary or in the peritoneum next to my uterus and ovary.  They are going to remove everything - my ovaries, womb and cervix, as well as some fat cells and some lymph nodes in the area. The cancer MAY have spread to the lymph nodes, but they are not sure.

They have not found a primary site for the cancer and are not sure whether the cyst is the primary. They expect to know more once the pathologist has examined the tissue.

I think that is pretty much all I know now.... I do find that the more information I get, the more upset I become, so I need to manage this.

Cancer Journals

The Cancer Journals

I have named this blog series “Cancer Journals” after Audre Lorde's classic The Cancer Journals.

It's been three weeks since I found out I had cancer.  My consultant gynaecologist had been trying to phone me and left messages on my voice mail, but as I sometimes don't check it for a couple of days, I didn't realise.  I had emailed his secretary asking if I could have the results of the tests I'd had done.  Then I got the letter telling me of an appointment to see a consultant at the MacMillan Cancer Centre, so I knew.

The first two weeks, I was pretty much in shock. I met with the consultant oncologist, who told me I would have to have a complete hysterectomy.  In between being in shock, I have been going through the first stages of grief:  denial and anger.  I have been angry at pretty much everybody – everybody who doesn't have cancer, everybody who has a partner or children or family around them – so that's pretty much everybody.

Trying to get the support I need, well, that's an ongoing battle.  Or series of battles.  Anyway. I'm strong.  I'm tough, right?  I am a warrior.  I am also vulnerable.  And I certainly was not expecting this.

I don't know how long I can keep up this blog series, because I don't know how I will feel physically or emotionally, or if I will have the courage to say what's really going on for me.  I'll do my best to keep it real, for as long as I can.  But some days, no doubt I will not feel up to posting.  

I trust you will find this series useful and helpful.  Please leave your comments below.  

Why Are So Many of Our People Dying?

We cannot overstate the effect that centuries of slavery and oppression have had, and still have, on our mental and physical health, our emotional wellbeing, our relationships, and our economic status.

Did you know that African Americans are 50% more likely than white people to have strokes?

African Americans are dying disproportionately from cancer and other health challenges including, among other things, cardiovascular problems, stroke, diabetes, certain cancers, HIV/AIDS and Alzheimer's.  For more about these and other issues, click here to download Why We Need to Heal.  

 

Why are so many of our people dying?  Why are our people dying at such higher rates than the rest of the population?

Is this to do with poverty and discrimination?  Is it to do with lack of access to healthcare? Is it to do with racism within healthcare provision?

Is it due to diet and lifestyle?

As suggested by this video from the African American Cultural Center, is it a cultural thing – do we just accept that we will be subject to certain health issues?

For more about health issues and other challenges facing our communities – and what we can do about them - click here to download Why We Need to Heal.

I would love to know your opinion. Please leave your comments below.

See also: Many African Americans Still Can't Access Healthcare.