Sara Matthews
Sara Matthews is a Kimpton Fellow working with the Wilson Center's Maternal Health Initiative and Office of Scholars and Academic Relations. Sara graduated from the University of Chicago with a B.A. in Public Policy Studies with a specialization in Human Rights in June 2020.
Sara is particularly interested in how socioeconomic factors interact with and impact health, especially among historically marginalized populations. During her undergraduate career, she interned with FosterClub, where she worked on a policy campaign promoting health care access for former foster youth, and she wrote her honors thesis on the intersections between housing status and health outcomes among chronically homeless populations. In the future, Sara hopes to work at the intersection of research and policy to promote more equitable health outcomes for all.
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Smart Power: Leveraging the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda
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“Without women and empowering women, there will be no peace,” said Dr. Valerie Hudson, Distinguished Professor and George H.W. Bush Chair at Texas A&M University. Hudson spoke at an event by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and the United States Department of Defense (DoD) in collaboration with the United States Civil Society Working Group on Women, Peace, and Security (U.S. CSWG). The event focused on how the United States can leverage the United Nation’s Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda to advance gender equality and promote peace worldwide.
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COVID-19 Causes Dire Disruptions in Maternal, Child, and Reproductive Health Services
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“The pandemic has undoubtedly resulted in more deaths and more illness – particularly for the most vulnerable women and children,” write the authors of a new United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) report examining the direct and indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Asia. The report found that the disruptions in several essential health services due to the COVID-19 pandemic had a “substantial impact” on maternal and child mortality in the region.
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COVID-19’s Pregnancy Paradox: Greater Disease Risk but Lower Vaccine Priority
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“Greater attention to pregnant patients as a unique population at higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection sequelae, is critical to preventing maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality,” write the authors of a study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology examining morbidity and mortality among pregnant women with COVID-19 in Washington state. The study found “markedly higher” hospitalization and fatality rates among this group compared with similarly-aged non-pregnant individuals.
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Native American Midwives Help Navajo Families Thrive
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When Navajo Midwife Nicolle Gonzales talks with Native American women about birth, there’s a sense something is missing, she said in this week’s Friday Podcast. “But,” she said, “we don’t know what it is.” Gonzales grew up and remains on a Navajo Reservation in New Mexico. She became a midwife and founded the Changing Woman Initiative (CWI) to address unmet maternal health care needs in her community. She is of the Tl’aashchi’I, Red Bottom clan, born for Tachii’nii, Red Running into the Water clan, Hashk’aa hadzohi, Yucca fruit-strung-out-in-a line clan, and Naasht’ezhi dine’e, Zuni clan. -
In Humanitarian Settings, Addressing Gender-Based Violence is Paramount
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“One hundred thirty-seven women are killed by a family member every day,” said Beth Schlachter, Executive Director of Family Planning 2020. “That’s a staggering statistic.” She spoke at a recent Wilson Center event about gender-based violence (GBV) in conflict and humanitarian settings in partnership with CARE, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Save the Children, and the Women’s Refugee Commission. The event was a part of a Wilson Center series recognizing the United Nation’s “16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence” and commemorated our friend and colleague, Jennifer Schlecht.
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Factor Housing into Maternal and Neonatal Health Policy
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The United States is facing a crucial moment, one in which more pregnant women are at risk of becoming housing insecure than at any other time in recent history. This leaves an unprecedented number of mothers and babies vulnerable to the associated adverse health risks. Housing instability – which includes challenges ranging from struggles paying rent to chronic homelessness – harms maternal and neonatal health as much as smoking during pregnancy. The economic effects of COVID-19 threaten to exacerbate the adverse health outcomes associated with homelessness.
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Māori Midwives on the Power of Indigenous Birthing Practices
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Camille Harris, Registered Māori Midwife, is unapologetic about her decision to study midwifery and practice exclusively with Māori families, in this week’s Friday Podcast. “It was always to serve my people,” she said. Both Harris and her professional partner, Registered Māori Midwife, Waimaire Onekawa, started their midwifery careers later in life with a clear dedication to Māori women in New Zealand. “And we just want to be able to give women—Māori women—and whanau [family], the love and care that we would hope to receive if we were the people being the recipients,” said Onekawa. -
More Midwife-based Interventions Could Save Millions of Lives
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“This is real,” said Franka Cadée, President of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM). “And we can no longer get around it. And we can no longer linger.” She spoke at a recent Wilson Center event, in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Johnson & Johnson, launching a new study, Impact of Midwives, published in The Lancet Global Health. If any other intervention could have the same impact as midwives or midwifery, it would be implemented worldwide immediately, she said.
