How you can get involved: Sign the Open Letter
You can help us to #EndInequalityInBabyLoss by signing our open letter, asking the next government to take urgent action on inequality in baby loss.
This general election, join the campaign by adding your signature to their letter.
You can also see the letter in Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi.
About the Open Letter:
"We trusted in a system that failed us profoundly, leaving us questioning if our treatment would have been different had we been from a different background."
- Amber and Darren
Bereaved parents Vaishali, Bhavna, Vijay, Amber and Darren all believe that their babies may have lived had they received better care. In the open letter, they share their experiences of having their concerns ignored and of experiencing differential treatment because of their ethnicity. Together, they are asking the next UK Government to take urgent action to end inequalities in baby loss.
In the UK, there are persistent inequalities in baby loss by ethnicity. These are particularly striking when you compare rates of baby loss for Black and Asian families with those of white families.
In 2021, Black babies were over twice as likely to be stillborn compared with white babies – and Asian babies were over 50% more likely to be stillborn. Black and Asian babies are also more likely to die shortly after birth compared with white babies.
This is unacceptable. No baby should have an increased risk of dying because of their race or ethnicity. We must end this.
More on the #EndInequalitysInBabyLoss Campaign:
Our #EndInequalityInBabyLoss campaign will challenge inequality in pregnancy and baby loss by:
- Raising awareness of the higher rates of baby death and pregnancy loss in different groups.
- Amplifying the voices of bereaved parents and other people with lived experience.
- Calling for concerted effort and targeted action across the Government, NHS and professional bodies to make care safer, and more equitable, to save Black and Asian babies’ lives.
Sands-funded research has shown that these inequalities have been public knowledge for over 70 years – yet there has been little progress in tackling them.
Through our recent Listening Project, we spoke to Black and Asian bereaved parents about the care they received. Half of the participants believed they received worse care or were treated differently by healthcare staff because of their ethnicity.
This included alarming instances of racist stereotyping, behaviours, and language.
Several Asian parents discussed being dismissed as overly anxious or prone to exaggerating health concerns. Meanwhile, several Black parents described how racist stereotyping assuming them to be ‘strong’, ‘feisty’ or ‘dramatic’ had prevented professionals from recognising when they were at their most vulnerable.
“I felt so let down because I knew I was in labour but I was told that I was being dramatic.”
- Mother to twins born at 26 weeks who died neonatally.
“I think they just could not recognise in me actual fear. They just saw this feisty, strong, brown woman. And actually, I was so scared I couldn’t speak.”
- Mother to a baby born at 26 weeks who died neonatally
“They just made me feel so uncomfortable. As if, ‘Oh, she’s here again’. But then why say, ‘Come in whenever you’re a bit concerned’?”
- Mother to a baby who died at 39 weeks
Sadly, we know that these examples are not isolated instances, but part of a well-documented problem of systemic racism experienced by many Black, Asian and mixed ethnicity families when navigating maternity and neonatal care.
These structural issues can lead to unsafe maternity and neonatal care, with devastating consequences for families. Urgent and systemic action is needed to address this.
We want to raise awareness of, and challenge, inequalities in our healthcare system to save more babies lives.
We are campaigning so that everyone gets the compassionate and personalised care they need. By doing this, we can make the UK one of the safest places in the world to have a baby.
We know a better system is possible. In the Listening Project, we also heard examples from Black and Asian parents of positive, joined-up, empathetic maternity and neonatal care. This must become the standard.
Change is possible. By working together to raise these problems with politicians and other decision makers, we will build a more equitable system that gives all families the care they deserve.