What's The BioTea?

"Pregnant women should not take Tylenol."

My only opinion is to consult your physician. However, if you decide to do your own research, there are important things that you should look for when judging whether a source is a reliable and trustworthy. I have listed those items below to empower you with the evaluation skills that public health professionals use.

To see an example of a reputable source, select the "Click For Source" button above. It will take you to the WHO statement on autism-related issues.

• Clear authorship & credentials (names, degrees, affiliations).

• Cite primary evidence (peer-reviewed papers, systematic reviews, official guidance).

• Use reporting standards (GATHER for health estimates; link to data/methods).

• External peer review / expert review (domain experts, clinicians).

• Disclose funding & conflicts of interest (COI statement).

• Show currency & versioning (published date, last updated).

• Provide plain-language summary & technical appendix (audience layers).

• Accessibility & translations (WCAG basics; common languages).

• Privacy & legal compliance (don’t publish identifiable health data; follow HIPAA where applicable).

• Monitor & correct (feedback channel, correction policy, metrics).

This Month's Article

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CDC Equivalent Public Health Agencies

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC)

• A specialized agency of the African Union, coordinating disease surveillance and emergency response across member states.

Australian Department of Health and Aged Care (Health.gov.au)

• National body responsible for health policy, disease control, and public health campaigns.

Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC)

• Oversees disease surveillance, public health interventions, and outbreak control.

Folkhälsomyndigheten (Public Health Agency of Sweden)

• Oversees communicable disease control, health surveillance, and public health guidance.

National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC, India)

• Handles disease surveillance, outbreak investigation, and health preparedness.

National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD)

• The leading center for disease surveillance, outbreak response, and public health reference labs in South Africa.

National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID)

• Japan’s top authority for disease surveillance, outbreak investigation, and vaccines.

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)

• National agency for epidemic preparedness, disease surveillance, and outbreak response.

Statens Serum Institut (SSI)

• National public health institute responsible for infectious disease surveillance, preparedness, vaccines, and biobanking.

Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH / BAG)

• National authority overseeing health policy, epidemics control, and public health data.

UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)

• Established after COVID-19, responsible for public health protection, infectious disease surveillance, and emergency preparedness.

1. Picking an article to kick off this project was challenging, because it's so much that I want to share with readers. An article focusing on the purpose of this project, closing the gap in maternal healthcare, is the article of choice. It serves as this project's North Star. The World Journal of Gynecology and Women's Health published Black Maternal Mortality-The Elephant in the Room in 2019.

2. This article by Lister, Drake, Baldwin and Graves provide a clear, digestible summary of a complex problem with numerous root causes.

3. The authors identified factors contributing to the high rate of Black maternal mortality beyond socioeconomic barriers. Even when socioeconomic status was equal, Black women experienced more pregnancy complications.

4. The authors pointed to racism from doctors and supporting staff as a contributing factor to the disparity in the Black maternal mortality.

5. The USA has a mortality rate of 26.4 per 100,000 live births. That is approximately 5x the rate of other developed nations.

6. White women in the USA have a maternal mortality rate that is roughly 1/3 of that of Black women.

7. According to the authors, solutions include treating Black women with respect and compassion and addressing overall health by managing comorbidities such as obesity, stroke, chronic hypertension, metabolic syndrome and Type 2 diabetes.

8. Another recommendation from the authors is improved and immediate postpartum care by primary physicians for women with pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia and preterm birth. They also call for healthcare professionals to bravely confront their own implicit biases.

9. Even when Black pregnant women presented as "ideal patients"-with strong socioeconomic status, private insurance, early prenatal care, and healthy lifestyles-their maternal mortality rates remained higher than those of white women.

10. Other contributing factors include the location of hospitals, such as receiving care at high volume hospitals and teaching hospitals.

This Month's Article in 10 Points

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Expecting doctors to not be biased without training is a sure way for Black birthing people to continue to die at this pace.

Racism in healthcare has to be reduced in order to save the life of Black birthing people.

There must be a public health campaign that targets Black women who do not feel comfortable visiting doctors offices.

There need to be consequences for doctors and healthcare staff who have multiple reports of racism, including jail time and loss of licenses for doctors with multiple Black maternal deaths.

The USA must collectively be embarrassed to have a third world health care systems for any and every citizen.

There must be a trustworthy reporting system for Black women to report disparate treatment.

Anyone who says some version of "they need to eat better and exercise" has missed the whole point and should be first person signed up for implicit bias training.

There are too many children growing up without their Black mother due to the lack of care from those who chose to have a career as healers.

My thoughts

If your thought is what about white babies, you are racist. Focusing on Black babies does not mean that my care for white babies is non-existing. This is white fragility.

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