FivexMore Campaign Shines a Spotlight on MBRRACE 2018 Report
Chelsea Beckford-Procyk – 1st year student midwife and Student Midwife Journal Editorial Board Member
If you’re part of the birth world and have an Instagram account, you will have most likely seen the hashtag #FiveXMore accompanying the hand-up stop gesture as part of an ever-growing campaign. If you haven’t (where have you been?), here’s what you need to know.
The campaign has come about following the 2018 MBRRACE report that highlighted black women in the UK are 5 times more likely to die from complications during pregnancy and childbirth than white women. All over the country people have been posting their FiveXMore selfies on social media to show their support in addition to sharing 5 tips to help women and go towards putting a stop to the frightening statistic.
Campaign co-founders Clotilde Rebecca and Tinuke explained, “We started the campaign to address the issue and build awareness. We hope the more that we scream and shout about the report, health professionals will give us answers and work towards reducing the mortality rates.” While Tinuke added “A lot of black women have reported not being listened to or taken seriously by healthcare professionals, which we believe is a key factor as to why these statistics exist in the first place.”
As a black woman and mother, it is so encouraging to see this kind of campaign spreading much needed awareness of the disparities in maternal outcomes. But while so many of us are campaigning for change, it seems the world of politics has other ideas.
November 14th, 2019, was supposed to be the publication date of this year’s MBRRACE report, but much to the shock of many healthcare professionals and members of the public like myself, an embargo was placed on the report. Ordinarily, during purdah (a term used to describe the period of time before elections) restrictions are placed on political publications, communications and PR announcements so as to not unfairly promote one political party over another.
However, the MBRRACE report is published by an independent working group not affiliated to any political party and therefore is an independent assessment of maternity care (though funded by NHS England), which is one of the reasons so many people are upset by this report being placed on embargo during purdah. The facts published can be used to learn from and make much needed improvements to maternity services and would provide a useful gauge to assess the state of maternity care one year after the 2018 MBRRACE report which initially highlighted the discrepancies between black and white women. The current Government is effectively withholding much needed findings that could potentially save lives until after the upcoming general election and formation of a new government. This does not sit well with me. It makes me think that these findings may potentially reflect badly on the current government and are therefore being withheld for political gain.
The response to this news on social media was largely outrage with a sprinkling of disbelief. Doula and birth activist Mars Lord (who was also part of the fivexmore launch event panel discussion) called for an explanation as to why the report was being held in purdah in a recent blog post and the charity Birthrights has sent a legal warning to the chief executive of NHS via law firm Leigh Day, demanding the report be made public post haste.
While it seems that the current government is trying to silence this issue, we as students, professionals, family and friends must continue to shine a light on it. The Government petition to improve maternal care for black women was also closed early due to the election and had only garnered 29,336 signatures. I can’t begin to describe how disappointing that is to me, considering 124,109 votes were counted to name a polar research ship Boaty McBoatFace!
Post your FiveXMore selfie, join the movement and campaign for much-needed change.
