MPs condemn failure to tackle ‘glaring’ racial inequalities in UK maternal health

Black women are almost four times more likely to die from childbirth than white women, the MPs’ report says. Photograph: MBI/Alamy

Ministers have failed to tackle “appalling” and “glaring” racial disparities in maternal health despite repeated promises, MPs have said, as they called for new targets to eliminate inequalities.

In a scathing report, the women and equalities committee said maternal death rates in deprived areas were on the rise, with women in the poorest areas about two and half times more likely to die in childbirth than those in the richest areas.