An estimated 830 women die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related complications around the world every day. And for every woman who dies, it’s estimated 20 more experience acute or chronic morbidity. Ninety-nine percent of maternal deaths and morbidities occur in developing countries.
The Wilson Center’s Maternal Health Initiative is committed to improving maternal health outcomes by increasing knowledge, understanding, and communication of creative interventions that can be integrated into policies and programs worldwide.
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PHOTO CREDIT: USAID IN AFRICA.
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Cultivating Meaningful Youth Engagement in Sexual and Reproductive Health Programming
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“We need to mainstream young people into the decision-making process,” said Senator Nikoli Edwards, age 25, of Trinidad and Tobago at a recent Wilson Center event on engaging youth to protect their sexual and reproductive health and rights. “Where it’s not a matter of, ‘let’s bring a young person into the room as an afterthought,’ but it should be written that a young person has to be a part of the discussion or has to be contributing in a significant way.” -
More than a Seat at the Table: Engaging Adolescents to Protect their Health and Rights
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“Adolescence is a time to support young peoples’ access to information, to education, to skills and to services that can result in a healthy and safe transition into adulthood,” said Sarah Barnes, Project Director of the Maternal Health Initiative, at a recent Wilson Center event on engaging youth and protecting their sexual and reproductive health and rights. “It’s time to make adolescents a priority,” said Barnes.
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“Norway’s “Daddy Quota” Means 90 Percent of Fathers Take Parental Leave”
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Visitors to Norway often remark on the number of men pushing prams around its streets. This summer, those pram-pushing days are growing longer, and not just because of the endless sun. Fathers of children born on or after July 1 will get 15 weeks non-transferable parental leave, rather than the already-generous 10 previously available.
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The Workplace Has Failed to Adapt to Mothers’ Needs — and It’s Taking a Toll
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“I don’t wanna work anymore,” the comedian Ali Wong exclaimed in front of her audience on her recent Netflix stand-up show — she was heavily pregnant at the time. “Well, I don’t wanna lean in, OK? I wanna lie down,” she added, referring to Lean In, the iconic career advice book for women. The crowd roared with laughter.
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Eliane Razafimandimby: Improving the Quality of Maternal and Child Care
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“Even in a weak system without a quality improvement structure, it is possible to support district managers and facility providers to measure and improve quality care,” said Eliane Razafimandimby, Chief of Party of USAID’s flagship Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP) in Madagascar, at a recent Wilson Center event on improving the quality of reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child healthcare (RMNCH). -
How to Value Unpaid Care Work: The $10 Trillion Question
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In Judy Brady’s iconic essay, “I Want a Wife,” the feminist activist enumerates the dozens of practical and emotional tasks wives perform as a matter of duty. At the end, she asks: “My God, who wouldn’t want a wife?”
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Everybody Counts: Saving the World One Condom at a Time
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Can we save the world one condom (or birth control pill) at a time? The third episode of Everybody Counts, hosted by Jennifer D. Sciubba, a professor of political demography at Rhodes College, makes the case that family planning is the foundation of peace and security by highlighting the links between population growth and political instability. -
Saving Lives: Focusing on Outcomes to Improve Maternal and Newborn Healthcare Quality
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Poor quality care is now a bigger barrier to reducing mortality than insufficient access to healthcare, said Dr. Margaret Kruk, Chair of The Lancet Global Health Commission on High Quality Health Systems in the Sustainable Development Goal Era. She spoke at a recent Wilson Center event on strategies to improve and sustain high-quality reproductive, maternal, and newborn care at scale. “We estimate that 8.6 million lives are lost every year due to lack of access to high quality care, and of that 8.6 million, five million lives are lost by people who have already reached out to the health system.”
