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The blog of the Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program
Maternal Health Initiative

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.

Follow MHI via “Dot-Mom” and on Twitter

PHOTO CREDIT: USAID IN AFRICA.

  • COVID-19 Adds to Challenges of Curbing Child Marriage

    ›
    Africa in Transition  //  Dot-Mom  //  Guest Contributor  //  January 27, 2021  //  By Carol Guensburg
    CG Guest post photo main

    When Mwanahamisi Abdallah’s mother announced plans to marry her off to a stranger, the 14-year-old Tanzanian girl burst into tears. She had no desire to marry—especially after learning the man already had three wives. Remembering advice from a teacher, she phoned authorities to intervene. They blocked the wedding and eventually delivered Mwanahamisi from her village in southeastern Lindi region to a girls’ shelter in Dar es Salaam.

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  • What Does a Biden-Harris White House Mean for Women and Girls? Everything.

    ›
    Dot-Mom  //  January 15, 2021  //  By Sarah Barnes
    Biden Harris WH photo

    The significance of the Biden-Harris administration for the world’s women and girls cannot be overstated. The current status of women and girls is grim. The COVID-19 pandemic and four years of dangerous policies designed to strip women and girls of their reproductive and economic autonomy and punish them—first for their biology, and second for their gender—have slowed and even reversed decades of progress toward gender equity. Systemic racism and policies meant to further exclude and disenfranchise minority communities have targeted women of color with tragic results.

    MORE
  • Factor Housing into Maternal and Neonatal Health Policy

    ›
    Covid-19  //  Dot-Mom  //  January 13, 2021  //  By Sara Matthews
    SM Housing insecurity photo

    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

    ›
    Dot-Mom  //  Friday Podcasts  //  December 18, 2020  //  By Sara Matthews

    podcast photos_maori midwivesCamille 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.

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  • Shaping a Maternal Mental Health Crisis Response to COVID-19

    ›
    Covid-19  //  Dot-Mom  //  December 16, 2020  //  By Madhavi Roy, Paul Shetler Fast & Vicha Adri
    Maternal mental health photo

    As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths rise, women are experiencing more anxiety both during and after pregnancy. One-third of all mental health problems are associated with adverse childhood and community experiences—the pandemic is an adverse community experience being felt worldwide.

    MORE
  • Midwife-Delivered Interventions Could Provide Dramatic Benefits

    ›
    Dot-Mom  //  Friday Podcasts  //  December 11, 2020  //  By Hannah Chosid

    podcast photos_nsb1In a year that has presented enormous challenges, it is even more gratifying to present evidence that strengthens the importance of midwives as providers of essential sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services and the impact they can have on maternal and neonatal mortality and stillbirths, said Anneka Knutsson, Chief of the SRH Branch at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) at a recent Wilson Center event, in partnership with UNFPA and Johnson & Johnson, to launch the Impact of Midwives study conducted by UNFPA, the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), and the World Health Organization (WHO) and published in The Lancet Global Health.

    MORE
  • More Midwife-based Interventions Could Save Millions of Lives

    ›
    Dot-Mom  //  From the Wilson Center  //  December 9, 2020  //  By Sara Matthews
    12-2 event summary photo

    “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.

    MORE
  • Reproductive Justice in the United States Prison System

    ›
    Dot-Mom  //  December 2, 2020  //  By Hannah Chosid
    ReproJustice_Prisons_image

    The United States imprisons the most women in the world. Across the United States, approximately 200,000 women are incarcerated—nearly an 800 percent increase since 1980. Women of color are disproportionately affected by the criminal justice system. In 2017, twice as many Black women and 1.3 times as many Hispanic women were incarcerated compared to white women. An often overlooked aspect of the increasing rates of women’s incarceration is the impact on the sexual and reproductive health needs of these women. “Despite being the fastest growing incarcerated population, women and girls are correctional afterthoughts,” writes Kimberly Haven, an activist and formerly incarcerated woman who had to undergo a hysterectomy—a surgical procedure to remove the uterus (and, with it, childbearing possibilities)—after being denied proper menstrual products while incarcerated.

    MORE
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