It’s been called a conundrum. A mystery. A disgrace. A national crisis. But when you ask why black women in the United States die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth at three to four times the rate of other ethnic/racial groups, the answer is usually the same: “We simply don’t know.” Why not? The short [...]
Inside the maternity ward at the Kagera Health Center in northwestern section of Tanzania are more than a dozen young women—some with infants in their arms, lying on tattered cots too worn for repair; others still waiting to give birth. Most of the women have been here for two to three weeks; all came hoping [...]
Driving through Uganda, one is struck by the beauty of its vast hills and green valleys, where banana plantations are bountiful and the fruit—one of the country’s staples—is sold alongside the road. But outside the capital of Kampala, one also notices how narrow and bumpy those roads can be, and how hard it would be [...]
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