Black women die at four times the rate of white women during pregnancy.

Political leaders have ignored and underplayed the systemic racism - and to be clear this is driven by racism - in healthcare for decades but there is a growing movement for wide reaching action to tackle structural racism across our society. 

More research is needed to understand the full extent of the inequalities in maternal healthcare, but women can't wait for yet another report or investigation.

We are demanding urgent, cross departmental action to tackle the shameful inequalities in maternal deaths. 

1. Government funded maternal health advocacy line run by black women, for black women 
2. Aggressive targets to employ more black women in senior roles in the health service
3. Mandatory anti-racism training for all healthcare staff and officials
4. Annual monitoring of health inequalities, with penalties for poorly performing Trusts and hospitals