A country can achieve sustainable peace and security only if women are included, said Monde Muyangwa, Director of the Wilson Center’s Africa Program at a recent Wilson Center event on the role of women in promoting peace and security in Africa. “And I would argue that part of the challenges that we face on the African continent, the insecurity that we face in parts of the African continent,” she said, “is precisely because not all segments of society are included.”

 “Family planning saves lives, even in times of crisis,” said Gwen K. Young, Managing Director at the Global Emergency Response Coalition at a Wilson Center event on October 8 on the importance of providing family planning and reproductive health services in humanitarian settings. Speakers from Save the Children, CARE, the International Rescue Committee, and FP2020 spoke to programmatic successes, innovative solutions, and local partnerships in fragile settings. Young highlighted that 1 in 70 people worldwide need humanitarian assistance and a quarter of these are women and girls of reproductive age. All told, more than 30 million women and girls in 42 countries.

The maternal and child health crisis in Washington, D.C. is “a public health crisis that has been hiding in plain sight for 30 years”, said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser at the second annual Maternal and Infant Health Summit on September 10 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Panelists at this year’s summit discussed issues such as racial disparities in healthcare, proper nutrition and breastfeeding for new and expectant mothers, and support for midwives and doulas in D.C. “The health of a nation is dependent on the health of its women,” said actress and activist, Alyssa Milano.