Change the odds

Katherine Theall, associate professor in the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and director of the Mary Amelia Douglas-Whited Community Women’s Health Education Center, presented the results of a study by Tulane researchers last week that found black women in Louisiana are three times more likely to have a low birth weight infant compared to white women and almost twice as likely to give birth preterm and/or to experience the death of a child under one year of age. Theall said the racial inequity in adverse birth outcomes revealed by the study are similar to national trends.

Researchers, practitioners and members of the community delved into the report’s findings and discussed solutions to the issue during a workshop at the Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design. 

“Health inequities are not about people or populations, but about systems,” said Theall, the primary researcher on the study. “It is time to start addressing systems if we are going to remove health inequities.”

Read the full report here.