{"id":40574,"date":"2026-07-25T08:58:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T06:58:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=40574"},"modified":"2026-07-25T08:58:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T06:58:52","slug":"systemic-bias-endangers-maternal-health-for-afro-descendant-women-un","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/systemic-bias-endangers-maternal-health-for-afro-descendant-women-un\/","title":{"rendered":"Systemic bias endangers maternal health for afro-descendant women: UN"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As the world marks International Day for Women and Girls of African Descent, the United Nations (UN) has warned that systemic racism and deep-rooted gender discrimination continue to push basic, quality healthcare out of reach for millions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Joint data from the UN and the Pan American Health Organisation reveals that these inequalities have triggered a severe crisis in maternal health. Afro-descendant women face dramatically higher maternal mortality rates than national averages, with mortality ratios nearly four times higher in Ecuador, more than double in Colombia, and almost one and a half times higher in Brazil.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Health advocates stress that these stark disparities stem from a lack of culturally appropriate care and entrenched institutional bias. To close the divide, civil society groups are urging governments to collect race-disaggregated health data, guarantee respectful maternal care, and ensure women of African descent actively participate in shaping health policy.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":35015,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-40574","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"UN warns racism and gender bias drive up afro-descendant maternal deaths","published_date":"2026-07-25 08:12:32","news_description":"UN warns racism and gender bias drive up afro-descendant maternal deaths","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/40574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/40574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40575,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/40574\/revisions\/40575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=40574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}