Environmental Impacts on Maternal Health

Abstract

Abstract There is growing research demonstrating the impact of environmental health exposures on birthing people, including the impact those exposures have before and during pregnancy. Environmental exposures can be positive, like green spaces, or negative, like pollution. However, environmental benefits and burdens are not distributed equitably, and as such, people of color are more likely to live in physical environments where they are more likely to encounter negative exposures. Applying an environmental justice approach allows us to examine the underlying structures which contribute to inequity, including both place-based and product-based exposures such as endocrine-disrupting personal care products and lack of access to safe drinking water. Providers do not have to be experts in environmental justice to integrate this approach in their assessment, counselling, and advocacy with patients. Using the Health Belief Model, providers can offer support and guidance about environmental impacts on maternal health.