Talamanca, Costa Rica/United Nations, New York – “When I’m working in the gynecology area and I see an Afrodescendent person, I feel concerned. Because I know that they wouldn’t come in unless they were feeling very bad.”
Siannie Palmer is an obstetrician from the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. Working at a clinic in La Palma, together with UNFPA she also pays monthly visits to primarily indigenous women who wouldn’t otherwise have access to health services – including for maternal, obstetric and newborn emergencies.
“Sometimes my (Africodescent) patients say they were left waiting longer, although the health professional thinks the waiting period is the same,” she explained. “But not with me, I’m a face they know – I’m Afro just like them.”
Her testimony echoes the findings of a new report by UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, which reveals that women and girls of African descent across the Americas face systematic racism and sexism in the health sector – discrimination that is even proving deadly for all too many.
The abuse stretches from verbal to physical and includes denial of quality care, coercive or unconsented medical procedures, lack of confidentiality, refusal of pain medication and violations of privacy.
Such entrenched discrimination breeds mistrust, and mistreatment only validates it: As one of Ms. Palmer’s patients said, “If the doctor asks me questions in the hallway or if they don't listen to what I have to say, I won't go back to their office.” (author introduction)
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