“We cannot achieve our goals of ending maternal and child deaths without addressing critical health system barriers around the world,” said Grace Chee of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)’s flagship Maternal and Child Survival Program at a recent Wilson Center event. To improve the lives of mothers and children, health workers must address the underlying causes of poor health outcomes, including systemic weaknesses in health care governance, financing, and human resources.

“All or most of the children living in these communities are by nature vulnerable,” said Melanie Yahner of Save the Children at a recent Wilson Center event on the sexual, reproductive, and maternal health of urban adolescents. Given that half of the global population living in urban areas today is under the age of 25, addressing the health needs of adolescents living in cities has become critical. “Who is shaping their norms and practices?” said Yahner. “How do we develop and adapt interventions that are meaningful for their needs?”

“All of the major religions of the world are really quite concerned with addressing the needs of the poor and also the disadvantaged,” said Victoria Graham, senior NGO technical advisor at the U.S. Agency for International Development, at the Wilson Center on July 18. “They’re always looking for interventions that address their needs, including health needs. And family planning is probably the most cost-effective way of doing this. Across the continuum – from looking at the economy to the family to saving lives – family planning is an excellent intervention.”

“Resilience means the ability to cope and move ahead,” said Joan Dalton, the gender lead at THINK Liberia during the second session in a series of conversations on resilience and health at the Wilson Center. As conflicts, epidemics, and natural disasters increasingly leave global health systems vulnerable to devastation, it is important to build resilient health systems through interventions that support community resilience, agreed global health experts at the panel event co-hosted by CARE and the Maternal Health Initiative.

“Innovation happens when there are pioneers that stick with it,” said Monica Kerrigan, vice president of innovations at Jhpiego. “How can we—each one of us—be part of the change process?” Innovations will be essential to meeting Sustainable Development Goal #3, which is to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to below 70 deaths per 100,000 live births. Experts from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Jhpiego, Jacaranda Health, and Total Impact Capital came together at the Wilson Center on September 14^th to discuss how maternal health clinics and other facilities can be drivers of innovation.

Urbanization is changing the face of poverty and marginalization, and the maternal and newborn health field needs to change too, said a panel of experts at the Wilson Center on January 24.

Where violent conflict displaces people and disrupts societies, maternal and child health suffers, and such instability is widespread today. According to the UN Refugee Agency, there are 65.3 million forcibly displaced people, 21.3 million refugees, and 10 million stateless people over the world. In addition, more than 65 million people who are not displaced are affected by conflict.