Unlocking Opportunities to Tackle Perinatal Health Issues in the Netherlands: Complexity Lenses and Systemic Design Framing Equity in Women’s Health

Preventing deaths due to hypertension during pregnancy is entirely feasible, even in countries with advanced healthcare systems like the Netherlands. Despite its reputation, the Netherlands grapples with this issue, particularly affecting non-Western women. While conventional thinking may attribute this disparity to socio-economic factors, we embrace a more nuanced approach drawing from Aristotle's understanding of complexity in health and human interactions alongside systemic design. Our investigation reveals a fragmented perinatal system with pronounced implications for non-Western women. Rather than solely blaming socio-economic factors, our analysis highlights deficiencies within the Dutch perinatal system, including cultural sensitivity and the tension between traditional midwifery practices and modern medical interventions. Using systemic design and complexity within human interactions, we reframed the issue and uncovered new avenues to address health disparities among non-Western women in the Dutch perinatal healthcare system. Moreover, we uncover systemic women's health limiting options and tap into a systemic undermining of women’s voices and representation in healthcare services, hampering reaching increased health equity.