Improving Maternal & Neonatal Care for People of Colour

Did you know that less than 5% of medical textbooks show how conditions present on Black and brown skin?

This lack of representation isn’t just an oversight it has real consequences. In the UK, Black women are almost four times more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth than white women, while Asian women are twice as likely. Black babies are twice as likely to be stillborn compared to their white counterparts. These devastating disparities reflect a healthcare system that too often fails to recognise, understand or respond to the needs of Black and brown bodies starting with how we are taught to see and treat them.

As a student midwife, I remember hearing @MaloneMukwende and @ChidiebereIbe speak about this gap in education and it struck a deep chord. I had already noticed it throughout my training and in clinical practice both in the learning resources provided to us as future clinicians and in the materials shared with the families in our care. It always troubled me.

That’s why I founded Melanatal.

Melanatal was born from a drive to change the education landscape in maternal and neonatal healthcare to provide truly equitable education for both parents and the clinicians who care for them.

We’re now launching Project 1-Version 1 of Melantal App including illustrations of how common maternal and neonatal conditions appear on black and brown skin and information around the related signs and symptoms.

Melanatal website This crucial resource aims to help improve detection, diagnosis and education, directly addressing the racial inequities that continue to affect outcomes. With your support, we hope to launch Melanatal on the app store and expand this resource to take a vital step toward making healthcare education more inclusive, representative and just.

Learn more and donate today to support Project 1. Let’s transform Maternal and Neonatal care collectively.