Inter Connectivity; Why Postpartum Recovery Depends On Politics, Poverty, Inequality, Environment etc

After the episode about the "state of maternity care in the NHS", I had an email asking why I spoke about maternity care/pre-natal care/medical bias etc on a postpartum podcast, and it's an excellent question.

As those who follow me on Threads, the only social media platform I'm active on, will know; I talk about many, many things on there..and hardly any straightforward postpartum recovery stuff.

That's because it's ALL connected; From the clothes we buy to protests about people in other nations, right to free speech, wealth inequality etc. everything is linked with everything else. And that means there is a direct link between postpartum care and all these things, you jst need to see it.

And, once you see it you simply can not unsee it and, if you then REALLY care about women's postpartum health you HAVE TO care about those other things.

Anyways; That's what today's episode is all about..next week we go back to talking about diastasis recti, I promise ;)

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Transcript

Why Interconnectivity Comes Up

Peter 0:00

Take two. Hey, welcome to the Help Post Natal Buddy Podcast with your Pulse Natal Expert Peace Olap. That, as always, would be me. This is a podcast for the 3rd of May 2026. And it's just little ob again. So, you know, I I don't know. I said the date before the music, but you know, it's a new episode, I promise. This is one about interconnectivity. It's this is I wasn't I would never do uh a podcast on this subject, but I had an email from someone um a while ago after the podcast I did on the state of postpartum care and maternity care, generally speaking, uh within the NHS. And they were like, why are you talking about that? Um when your main focus is um is the postpartum bit. So why do you care about prenatal stuff and medical bias and all that type of stuff if your focus is postpartum stuff? And we're having a conversation, as as I do. And I'm very polite when I explain myself via email. I always get back to you, Peter at healthy postnatal body.com, by the way. And then they were saying, yeah, yeah, but you talk about unrelated things on on Freds, the social media platform a lot. And I do. I I talk as in I talk about things that are seemingly unrelated, but they're not actually unrelated. And this is where a lot of people I think tend to miss the point quite a lot. Everything is connected. Um, so that's what I'm talking about today. Interconnectivity, how everything is connected, from the state of the NHS to postpartum care to how women are treated, to medical bias, to what's happening uh within politics, what's happening with um wealth inequality, what's happening with even what's happening in Gaza, all that type of stuff. It's all connected. And I don't mean this in a conspiracy, conspiracy theory way, but we have to understand how this stuff is all connected and how it leads to problems for a large part of the population. So that's what I'm talking about. Like I said, I usually wouldn't do one, but a lot of people don't, I'm quite sure as to why I feel the way I do about this stuff and why it matters and all that sort of thing. So that's what we're all about. So without further ado, here we go. So, you know, and and and this is a difficult one. This is like I said, this is Peter, and uh this is the podcast for the 3rd of May 2026. And I hope you're well. Let me start there by saying that I hope you're well, because you know that's where we start the podcast. Like I said, Peter at healthypostnatal buddy.com if you have any questions or comments. Um as I mentioned before, the the before the intro music, the reason for this particular episode is that I had an email from someone who was I think it was asking kind of like a complaint. Okay, um, kind of like a stay in your lane type sort of thing. Just talk about diastasis and and don't talk about anything outside the the postpartum physical recovery bit. And and I think we quite often have tend to have a narrow focus, and and that can can be a bit of a problem. And and and we see this with quite a lot. Um, you know, if you follow me on on Freds, and it is still just healthy post-natal body on on threads, like I said before, that's the only social media platform I'm I'm I'm very active on. Um have many conversations about many things with many people. Um, but one of the things that that uh I talk about a lot, and I I I am very firmly in in certain camps with regards to what things are are socially acceptable and and what things are not. Um and you'll see that I'm I'm very much on the on the on the left side of the political spectrum these days, aggressively so, as some would say. Um and for me that is because it all matters. So I I got I I was challenged on that a little bit, and that happens every now and again, right? People will say things along the lines of you need to stay in your lane, you need to, you know, only talk about the postpartum recovery side of things and wealth inequality is outside your scope. But first of all, I have a PhD in economics, so I think I have some expertise. I haven't used it in like 25 years, but or indeed ever. Um, but it's it's uh some uh some knowledge. But more importantly, rather than the authority um argument, it really matters. One of the things I cited in um the episode on postpartum care in in NHS was a study that Healthline did that showed that 16% of all women in the UK m don't get the eight or ten-week checkup that they should be getting the eight-week checkup, really. But um they don't get it at all, 16%. And that's predominantly a socioeconomic problem. And the fault is not with the women that missed the appointment, by the way. Right? This is an NHS trust issue. Let's be very clear about this. Um, but that's a socioeconomic problem. That's a wealth inequality problem. Poor people tend to get more poorly treated by the healthcare system, by all systems in general. And and and this really matters because the health outcome for poor people and for kids is by definition worse. And it's not worse because as some would say, they can't afford good food. It's part of it, but the problem is institutional. Right? And and if you therefore, if you if you care about health, uh maternal health, and and and young child and child health, um, then you have to care about poverty. And and you have to care about wealth inequality. In in countries like, and I know a lot of people in the US are listening to this, US, the richest country in the world, uh, UK in the top five as well, but for GDP, and GDP is a terrible measure, but it's it is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. As in, there is so much money floating around the British economy that it's obscene. Right, you're in the top five largest economies in the world. When I say wealthiest, I mean largest economies. Um, but a lot of people don't feel that, a lot of people don't see that, and that really matters. Now, is it better in the UK than it is in some countries? I don't know, in say Sub-Saharan Africa and all that other stuff. Of course it is, right? And no one's disputing that, because that's usually the the the gotcha response. Right, and I hear this a lot from some of my clients who are very, very well off. There's no such thing as poverty in the UK, is what they will say. Um, because poverty is not being able to get a bowl of rice when you're in the sub-Saharan Africa and Ethiopia. That that's how they see poverty, how they view poverty. And there's much more to it than that. Um, because that becomes a lies light and that statistics type of argument, then, right? If you care about the top 1% having all the money, having more money than the bottom 80%, then if you don't care about that, then you don't care about health outcomes for the bottom 80%. It is that simple. It it is you have to see these things as connected. Right? If some people have all the money and a lot of people have very little money, then the some people with all the money are going to be healthier. Right? And then you have to look at these things that are connected. The top 1% have therefore have access to power, they have access to politicians, and the politicians are the are the decision makers, and the decisions will then be made for that one percent, and therefore not for the 80% of people. And that affair that means every decision they make, intentional or not, will have a negative impact on uh poor people, on struggling people. This is why representation matters. And by representation I mean uh BAME representation, I mean LGBT, Q, uh T representation, all that sort of stuff matters. Because if people don't have the ears of those in power, or they don't have influence over those in power, then they're going to get neglected, whether intentional or not. They're not going to be involved in the decision-making process. And this is what we're finding with a lot of let's say medical research is a prime example of this, of this. And I know this is a big trend recently, and they're correcting it, but a lot of the old medical research for many, many reasons, and some some pretty good reasons, was never done on women. So then you're going to run into issues, right? Um, and the medical research wasn't done by women a lot of the time, and then we're going to run into issues because as I always point out, you know, the blind spots us middle-aged white guys have are everywhere. And we need people around us to point out that we're having blind spots. And we have to be obviously we have to be non-defensive when people point that out. I I I regularly say the the wrong thing and the wrong phrase. That's not really what I'm talking about. Um, right, because that that happens, right? I I still use the term Middle East regularly and all that type of stuff. And and it just comes out, and I know we say swana now, and and and that's all good. I'm learning, so to speak. I'm talking about not considering uh the impact your decisions have on other people from a different background. That is much more problematic than than using the wrong language, right? And and it is very tempting to just use the right language and not consider the impact of of your decisions. Uh, because you know you're saying the right things, right? But but it's the doing the right things that matter. Prime example. Prime example of this, and and I believe you, I I promise you even that this this point matters. So in within the UK right now, there's a discussion being had about limiting uh the right to protest with regards to, especially with regards to the anti-genocide, pro-Palestine uh protests that are happening regularly. Well, about every week, right? Most most cities have one every week. Um and I call them anti-genocide protests because that's fundamentally what they are. I know other people package them as pro-Palestine, but the main goal of these protests is to try to put pressure on the government to get them to act in an effort to stop Palestinian people being slaughtered, right? That is what it is. That is not a pro-Palestine cause. I mean, I am firmly in the pro-Palestine camp, by the way, for anyone who doesn't know, but it's it is it is not for pro-Palestine cause. It's a let's stop killing people cause, right? Um, so I think you know that that that matters. And now there's a lot of chat about this because there is there have been one or two uh or three or four attacks on the Jewish community in the UK, not related to these protests as in at all, but they are being linked, right? So what people are saying is we should stop these people should mind their language. That's fundamentally what it is. The people at the protests that have nothing to do with the anti-Semitic attacks have to mind their language. So we're going to start legislating for that. We're going to tell the police to do things for that. Now, I know what you're thinking. You're listening to the post-natal podcast. You're like, this has nothing to do with postnatal health, but let me show you how it does. So if you start curbing the phrases and the right to protest, peaceful peaceful protest in in the UK for one cause, that will automatically, sooner or later, be used by someone else to curb something else. Can you almost and and and and we see this happening in America with regards to um women's rights and reproductive rights and right to choose and all that type of stuff, right? That will be next. Someone else will come in and say, hey, this legislation's already in place that says you can't do certain things. We're just going to expand that a little bit. Or we're going to apply that existing legislation to this other thing. That is why this stuff matters. And now we're in all of a sudden in the you can't protest regularly for anything anymore. In the UK, the the the chat is about cumulative effect. If you stop talking about, if you start saying no, you can't protest every week anymore, it's because it's inconsiderate. That goes for all protests. It doesn't just go for the one cause people don't care about. Right? Everything is connected one way or another. And I would argue it's connected on a much deeper level. I would argue that as a healthcare professional, as someone who cares about other people, by definition, as a healthcare professional, you should care about other people. That also means you should care about people in other nations. That means you should care about, if you care about the press women here, that means you need to care about oppressed people in other places as well. Right? You can't just say it only matters what happens here. Because we're connected worldwide. Everything is, you know, like I said, we're in the one of the fifth, we're in the fifth largest economy in the world. If you think we hold no power, and if you even better, if you think our wealth doesn't come from somewhere, right? It comes from other countries. This stuff doesn't appear out of out of thin air, out of thin sky, uh, out of the air. Right? And this is this is the classic middle-aged white guy privilege sort of thing, where the middle-aged white guy doesn't see the privilege that he has because he's not a multimillionaire, or something like that. Right? It's the classic, oh, my grandfather never never owned slaves, or I wasn't born when we were exploiting India, or you know, doesn't matter, you're benefiting from it. And if you're a half-decent person and you benefit from something, then you should at least be aware that you're benefiting of at least of what you're benefiting, and you should see the problems when you stop caring. Um so when someone says I do not care about XYZ abroad, it fundamentally sooner or later comes down to I do not care about what happens here. Because these things are connected. So if we're looking at wealth inequality, and you know, HBMB is a again, and and I'm not tooting any horns here, HBMB is set up so that it's affordable everywhere, and that's why we work with charities and all that other stuff, and why if people say they can't afford it, you dude, you get it for free. What do I care? Right, but the everybody needs to be able to have access to certain things, and this is a universal truth, in my opinion. Anybody should have access to good postpartum care, anybody should have access to good health care, period. Everybody should have access to food in the same way that everybody should have access to food, and I think most people in the world agree with that. Medical care is is is the next step. Right? You can't say people need access to food, but disagree with and they need access to medical care, and that makes no sense. Everybody in the world who breaks a leg needs to be able to see someone to fix their leg. If we agree on that, basic thing. Everybody needs food, everybody needs water, everybody needs clean air, everybody needs to be able to get their leg fixed when it's broken, then the next step is you need access to good postpartum care. It has to be. It doesn't make sense not to. So we're not working backwards here, we're working forwards. Right? It is all part of the and HBMB, it's part of that same that same cloud. That where you say everybody needs access, that means everybody. That doesn't mean some people, that doesn't mean rich people, that doesn't mean white people, that means everybody. That doesn't mean people in the UK or Europe or America or you know air quote Western nations. That means everybody. You and therefore everything is connected. If it means people in in, I don't know, the Congo, and admittedly they might have higher priorities than doing doing uh dead bug exercises for the diastasis recti and all that sort of stuff. But you know they should be able to have access to that type of stuff, and they should not get exploited. And therefore, right, and if we agree on that, they need access to good medical care and they need access to food and and all that type of stuff, then everything is connected. And that means that if you agree they shouldn't be exploited, it means that those people that are working in appalling conditions for to get whatever we need from them for our iPhones and all that type of stuff, right? They should have better conditions, they should have access to health. But the solution for that over here is that you don't buy as many iPhones. So those people need more money, sure, but you also need to stop. We also need to stop buying all the stuff that is killing these people. Right? There are enough clothes in the world, and I've mentioned this before because I had John Pabon on on a while ago. Um, he has a new book out, by the way. I will link to that in the in the podcast description. Uh uh, it's about this time, it's about business, uh, making businesses more sustainable, but it's still worth worth reading. Uh, John Pabon is the sustainability guide Australian chapel. Lovely bloke, lovely bloke. We have a lot of time for him. Um and he uh has always pointed out that there are enough clothes in the world right now, without making more nuance, to clothe six generations of all the people on the planet. So we don't need to make more. We don't need to. I mean, the clothing industry is one of the most polluting industry in the world across its full lifespan cycle. That's the sort of thing you have to care about. Up to a point. I'm not saying you can care equally about all these things, but you have to be aware of and you have to care about when you're talking about wealth inequality, when you're talking about environmental damage, and when you're talking about health care access. Because all those cheap clothes you're buying are killing people somewhere else. Or they're being used to exploit other people. Other people are making these clothes for pennies and you're buying them for pounds, and in the middle someone makes a lot of money, and it isn't you. And it isn't the people making the clothes. And then when you're done with the clothes, they ship them off, and and you know, they get put up in a landfill in in Turkey somewhere, or uh some other country where it's just clogging up the system because none of this stuff is recyclable. Right? So we're killing the people over there, and everything and that means poor health, and that means poor poor health for these people, poor health care system, systems get overwhelmed with things other than maternity care. These people have no money to spend on maternity care, and now we're back to these people who have diastys rectum. have bigger issues than that's very clear. I just mean it's all connected. And that, my friends, is why I talk about the state of the NHS. And why on Fred I am I'm very outspoken on on certain things. Such as environmental damage, uh exploitation, LGBTQ issues, uh LGBTQ issues, um racism, all that all that type of stuff. You cannot once you see the connection you can't unsee it. And once you see it you have to have to find a way to get people to care about it. Right? And if you deliberately willfully look away. Because you have to look at actions right you have to look at actions much more than words. Words don't mean a thing. Right? Your politicians can say and this is my issue with a lot of politicians they'll they will say whatever but they don't they do the opposite and and and that is the problem. You judge people by actions you judge politicians by actions and and a lot of the arguments I'm having online are about that. We have to judge by actions. Doesn't mean we have to be pristine all the time doesn't mean we don't screw up all the time Lord knows I do but we do the best we can at any given stage in the moment we just do the best we can and if you do that then before you know it you host your stupid little podcast and you talk to some really interesting people and you get some really insightful questions and you talk and talk a lot about um you get people on talking about a lot of different subjects right and and we've covered most of this stuff on the podcast. We've covered sustainability we've covered parenting we've covered social media addiction we covered social media algorithms we covered environ uh environmental sustainability stuff I don't know if I'm going to mention this I'm doing this from the top of my head by the way we've covered we've covered inequality we've covered value-based living we've done all these things everything is connected and therefore we have to do more than just talk about diastasis and back pain and neck pain every week also I wouldn't be on episode 350 something if I only spoke about diastasis. Anyways in a couple of weeks I I did a wonderful wonderful as I just banged something so apologies if there's a pong there somewhere um for the editing team uh I have an editing team by the way can you believe it this little thing is actually we're actually paying some level of of of attention um I did um had a wonderful conversation with um Dr uh Mike Myers um Mike wasn't it yeah yeah it was Dr. Mike Myers um and Michael Michael Myers I'm not sure it's Mike or not I think it is Mike but it it's uh Michael Myers and I mean and we spoke about the measles we did a whole thing about the measles and vaccines and all that type of stuff that'll come out sometime towards the end of of the month that was an amazing conversation you're gonna love that guy and those things we have to talk about if we are going to make any sort of difference with regards to postpartum care because absolutely everything is linked. Anyways that's my waffling done next week we'll go back to talk about diet self director and keep it light yeah have a wonderful week Peter at healthypostnatobody.com if you have any questions comments or just want to tell me I'm a jackass right take care of yourself bye now the pop-up