Tennis star Serena Williams is calling for the improvement of healthcare for pregnant women and new mothers from across the globe, doing so following her traumatic labor experience in September, a condition that forced the 36-year-old to be booked for an emergency c-section to deliver her baby girl, Alexis Olympia. This happened after her situation worsened due to a drop in her heart rate.
A day following her delivery, Williams experienced difficulty in breathing and a medical examination showed her lungs had blood clots.
To address the situation, the doctors gave her anti-coagulant drugs. Another situation developed after she started coughing as a result of her pulmonary embolism that ended up opening the scar left by the c-section. This saw her abdomen get filled with her blood.
Williams’ doctors had to move with speed to save her life. They inserted a filter into one of her major veins to stop clots from gaining access to her lungs. For proper recovery, she was put on bed rest for a period of six weeks.
While Williams’ experience was highly publicized because of her celebrity status, she’s not the only one who faces this danger. According to reports, 25 out of every 100,000 women die during childbirth in the US every year, a rate more than twice that of western Europe. African Americans have three times the rate of their white counterparts. In developing countries, the risk is way higher.
Unlike most of these women, Williams is a well-off woman who can afford world-class treatment, a fact she acknowledged in an op-ed for CNN.
“If it weren’t for their professional care, I wouldn’t be here today,” she said, adding: “Every mother, everywhere, regardless of race or background deserves to have a healthy pregnancy and birth. And you can help make this a reality.”
She further said she almost lost her life after giving birth to her daughter, Olympia.
“I am so grateful I had access to such an incredible medical team of doctors and nurses at a hospital with state-of-the-art equipment. They knew exactly how to handle this complicated turn of events.”
Williams went ahead to urge her readers to support UNICEF or governments towards establishing stable and robust medicare for pregnant women.
She explains that a whopping 80% of all the 2.6 million infant deaths at childbirth every year are preventable, with the same situation applying to mothers as well.
To drive her point home, Williams shared the story of an 18-year-old girl in Malawi by the name Mary James Temani, who lost her son just hours after his birth.
“Around the world, thousands of women struggle to give birth in the poorest countries,” Williams said.
“When they have complications like mine, there are often no drugs, health facilities or doctors to save them. If they don’t want to give birth at home, they have to travel great distances at the height of pregnancy. Before they even bring a new life into this world, the cards are already stacked against them.”
The problem is widespread and is also affecting America. Williams believes there is something we can do to change the narrative.