This month marked the two-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. March, in the United States, is Women’s History Month and internationally, the world celebrates International Women’s Day, each year on March 8. In recognition of both the ongoing war and its effects on Ukrainian women and children, the Maternal Health Initiative reached out to Member of Parliament and Leader of the Holos Party, Kira Rudik as a follow up to conversations we had at the start of the war and at its one year anniversary.

The International Day of the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21 offers a significant opportunity to reflect on a key issue in maternal health: despite global progress over the past 20 years, maternal deaths are rising across the Americas. Why?

Maternal mortality continues to be one of the scourges in global health. The fact that women die as part of bringing life is an indictment against the overall status of women around the world, and underscores the failure to prioritize women, mothers, and children. Efforts to draw attention to the causes of maternal death and the solutions to maternal mortality abound, but they fail to get enough attention from the decisionmakers who establish health priorities and allocate resources that could actually make a difference.

Today, March 8, is International Women’s Day (IWD). It is an annual occasion to celebrate the incredible achievements of women and girls globally, while acknowledging the work still needed to push forward to make the critical human rights issue of gender equality a reality.

We live in a world marred by healthcare disparities. Pregnancy-related deaths and disabilities remain unacceptably high. Nearly 800 women die each day due to preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, and scores more suffer from lasting disabilities. Shockingly, 90% of these preventable deaths occur in low-resource settings.

The recent arrests of women in Dasht-e-Barchi of Kabul, Daikundi province, and Jaghori district of Ghazni in Afghanistan by the Taliban for inadequate adherence to Islamic dress codes highlights a critical and distressing situation. These events are not an isolated occurrence. Rather, they are a reflection of the intensifying oppression and systemic threats faced by women in the country, particularly those from ethnic and religious communities such as the Hazaras.