Health for Women

Primary care physician goes over diagnosis and medications with a patient

Go See the Doc: The Battle to Take Back Primary Care

Kayla Flewelling and Utibe Effiong

Your primary care provider is in a unique position to help you stay healthy, in large part by identifying potential disease threats and helping you prevent their onset. So what is keeping so many Americans out of their primary care doctor’s exam rooms?

Black Mother holding a newborn baby

State of Maternal Mortality: The Inequitable Burden on Black Mothers

Kyle Simone Nisbeth

In the US, Black women die from pregnancy-related complications at a much higher rate than the rest of the population. The majority of these deaths are preventable, introducing tough questions for health care. Through awareness and advocacy, says Kyle Nisbeth, we can ensure that these burdens are mitigated and that Black mothers and babies receive the care they need to thrive.

Menstrual Products

Changing the Cycle: Period Poverty as a Public Health Crisis

Ashley Rapp and Sidonie Kilpatrick

With 1 in 5 girls missing school due to lack of menstrual products, period poverty is an important, yet often ignored, public health crisis. Michigan Public Health students Ashley Rapp and Sidonie Kilpatrick explore the issue, and the ways public health professionals can work toward menstrual equity.

Volunteers and professionals distribute food to those affected by a crisis

Malnutrition in Humanitarian Crises: The Will to End a Preventable Disease

Muriel Bassil

Across the globe, armed conflicts and natural disasters create severe hunger and malnutrition for millions. In addition to the crisis itself, underlying causes of malnutrition should be front and center—food insecurity, inadequate care for women and children, insufficient health services, and unhealthy environments.

A woman in orange sits on the floor of a prison cell

Not Equipped: The Incarceration of Mothers and Limitations on Reproductive Rights

Sitara Murali

More than a third of incarcerated women worldwide are in US prisons, and 80 percent of those women are mothers. The US prison system is not equipped to provide basic health care to these women and must adapt quickly to ensure basic human dignity and access to adequate health care for a growing population of women.

construction worker working on a roof

Labor Organizing: An Unexpected Avenue to Health Equity

Leah R. Abrams, MPH ’17

Inequities in socioeconomic status or class are an essential cause of health differences in the US. On the surface, labor organizations might not appear to be about public health, but any group that aims to reduce social inequality is ultimately helping to reduce health disparities.