Achieving the next generation of maternal health goals in India, which accounts for almost 15 percent of maternal deaths around the world each year, will require innovative new approaches to stubborn problems.

“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.

The once-every-three-years Women Deliver conference has become a major coalescing force for various global health and development efforts aimed at women and girls. “We operate at a global level, influencing the agenda” by focusing on the “four Cs”: convening, communicating, capacity-building, and catalyzing, said Susan Papp, director of policy and advocacy for Women Deliver. [Video Below]

Last October, on the heels of the UN General Assembly agreeing to the Sustainable Development Goals, the global health community met in Mexico City to discuss strategy for achieving the “grand convergence”: finally bridging the gap between maternal and newborn health in rich and poor countries. [Video Below]

Aissata M.B. Camara grew up in an educated, upper income household in Guinea, West Africa. One morning, she woke up to singing outside her window and knew they were coming. Many in her community thought that she was unclean and would grow up to be promiscuous if she wasn’t cut. She would be unmarriageable. While her family and community members held her down, she realized, “my body no longer belonged to me.” [Video Below]