In August 2013, Josephine Majani, a mother of three from Bungoma County in Kenya, endured a harrowing birth experience. Despite her repeated pleas for help during labor, the nurses in the hospital ignored her. She struggled to walk to the labor ward while in intense pain, but all of its beds were occupied. Majani was forced to give birth on the cold concrete floor. Subsequently, nurses there subjected her to verbal and physical abuse—even making her carry her placenta back to the labor ward.

Pronatalism, the push for women to have more children, has elbowed its way into prominence in public discourse. In the United States, cultural and institutional pressures on women to bear children are articulated in various ways, from negative portrayals of women who don’t consider having a child a viable choice for themselves, to a burgeoning Silicon Valley subculture that advocates having “tons of kids” to save the world, to policy proposals that would further restrict reproductive choice or limit the voting power of the childless. The stigmatization of people without children and the recent rise in contemporary pronatalism is a global phenomenon.

Maternal health among adolescents in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) remains a largely unexplored and frequently neglected area within the public health field. Adolescent birth rates remain disproportionately high in LMICs, accounting for approximately 97% of all adolescent births globally. The prevalence of child marriage, poverty, gender-based violence, and limited access to and utilization of contraceptive methods all contribute to this startling statistic.

During humanitarian emergencies, women and newborns face severe disparities and heightened vulnerabilities, increasing their risk of illness and death. Humanitarian crises—caused by conflict, climate-related disasters, or forced displacement—disrupt health systems, limit access to essential services, and increase the likelihood of preventable deaths. In 2023, 58% of global maternal deaths, 50% of newborn deaths, and 51% of stillbirths worldwide occurred in the 29 countries with a UN humanitarian response plan or regional response plan. In humanitarian emergencies, a lack of skilled health personnel, inadequate infrastructure, and shortages of essential medicines are common—resulting in limited access to both basic and emergency maternal and newborn care. A fight for humanitarian aid is also a challenge, as maternal and newborn health are often under-prioritized or neglected in humanitarian response.

A recent study from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and its partners found that women and girls of African descent living in the Americas are up to three times more likely to die from preventable maternal death causes. So it is no surprise that UNFPA’s Executive Director of Programs, Diene Keita, is calling attention to this challenge.

Each day, almost 800 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. A maternal death occurs every two minutes. Maternal mortality is defined as the death of a woman from complications of pregnancy or childbirth that occur during the pregnancy or within 6 weeks after the pregnancy ends.*

Two years ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency after a multi-country outbreak of mpox (formerly known as monkeypox). Now, in the summer of 2024, mpox is on the rise again. On August 14, The WHO declared a new public health emergency due to a recent outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and other African countries.

Ongoing fighting in Sudan has led to a devastating humanitarian crisis that United Nations Humanitarian and Emergency Relief Chief Martin Griffiths calls “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history.”  

Among the millions of people harmed by the fighting are countless pregnant people and new mothers, who face direct and indirect threats to their health and lives in the country’s renewed conflict. Sudan was already suffering from a maternal mortality crisis prior to the onset of its latest civil war. Before the most recent round of bloodshed, Sudan’s maternal mortality rate stood at 270 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2020 – higher than the global average of 223 deaths. And as this crisis worsens, it is imperative to call attention to what is occurring there.