DECOLONISING MATERNITY CARE

Amali U. Lokugamage

Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist, Honorary Associate Professor

Whittington Hospital NHS Trust
Institute for Women’s Health, UCL

 

• Background
  • Western biomedicine was set up in colonial times
  • Euro-American model of healthcare has deep roots in colonial medicine and has been extensively shaped by colonial-era hierarchies of power.
• Objectives
  • To uncover power imbalances constructed throughout a history of various colonial biases yet lingering in maternity care
• Methods
  • Literature searches were conducted of peer-reviewed publications and grey literature for decolonial discussions on maternity care.
• Conclusions:

The following themes emerged that need to be deeply reflected on through education, guideline construction and policy making by maternity professionals to improve equity, fairness through reflexivity and decolonisation.

• Histories of exploitation
• Racism & diagnostic bias in darker skins
• Androcentric ideas of health
• Colonial legacies in higher education
• Epistemic and geographical bias in knowledge production
• Power imbalances between allied professional groups
• Power imbalance between healthcare providers and patients
• Medical interventions v ecological interventions
• Reverse innovation and cultural appropriation

 

Acknowledgements: Nathan Robinson, Sithira D C Pathberiya, Sarah Wong, Christine Douglass.

Reference: Lokugamage AU, Robinson N, Pathberiya SDC, Wong S, Douglass C. Respectful maternity care in the UK using a decolonial lens. SN Soc Sci. 2022;2(12):267. doi: 10.1007/s43545-022-00576-5. Epub 2022 Dec 4. PMID: 36531139; PMCID: PMC9734803.