“Midwives play a vital role in the health care of mothers and babies,” said Samara Ferrara, a midwife from Mexico, at the Wilson Center on February 27. But in many parts of the world they face a confluence of stressors that make working conditions miserable: low and irregular pay; harassment and disrespect from both patients and doctors; and little supplies, training, or say in the policy dialogue about maternal health.

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.

If you really want to fight the patriarchy, if you want to make a difference in girls’ lives, you have to reach them when they are young, says Joyce Banda.

Joyce Banda, Malawi’s first female vice president, became Malawi’s first female president in 2012 after the sudden death of Bungu wa Mutharika in office. From day one, maternal health and girls’ education were a priority in her administration, she tells the Maternal Health Initiative’s Roger-Mark De Souza in an interview at the Wilson Center.

The United Nations Population Fund’s 2016 State of the World Population report calls for investment in a very specific demographic: 10-year-old girls. At age 10, young girls are at a “pivotal” stage in their lives, the report says. They face a world of limitless possibilities, yet far too many end up thwarted in their ambitions by sexual violence, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, child labor, and other “systematic disadvantages.”

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.