Wilson Center | Maternal Health Initiative

On July 11, World Population Day, MHI hosted an event on Population and Development in the 21st Century with Wilson Center | Environmental Change and Security Program and Population Institute. Watch some of the highlights, compiled by Population Institute, here: https://lnkd.in/dAtsSP9K

Happy National Intern Day! Thank you Rebecca Avigad for an incredible summer. Your work has been exemplary and we are so grateful for the time you have spent at the Wilson Center.

Meet our current Summer Intern, Rebecca (Becca) Avigad! Becca is currently pursing her Master's Degree in Public Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Her interests are in domestic and global reproductive health access, as well as gender and conflict. Since joining the Maternal Health Initiative in June, she has contributed to our program's work though our social media platforms, research and writing, supporting our recent events, and producing and editing content for the Dot-Mom column of the New Security Beat blog. We are grateful to have benefited from Becca's expertise and incredible work ethic this summer, and wish her the best in her second year of her degree!

"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.'" This week's Dot-Mom column on the Wilson Center | Environmental Change and Security Program blog, New Security Beat, examines the maternal health crisis in Sudan amidst the fighting: https://bit.ly/3ymUWjk

"I think what we mostly think about when we think about ICPD from 1994 is that incredibly important core consensus around the right of couples and individuals to freely and responsibly determine the number, timing and spacing of their children and to have access to the information and the means to do so," said Kathleen Mogelgaard, Population Institute at a recent event hosted by the Maternal Health Initiative and the Wilson Center | Environmental Change and Security Program. The Wilson Center held an panel discussion on #WorldPopulationDay, exploring the topic of population and development in the 21st century. Check out highlights from the event in the video below.

"Lawmakers who had been moving toward repealing Gambia’s landmark ban on female genital cutting overwhelmingly changed course on Monday, voting instead to keep the legislation in place after women staged an intense three-month campaign." A third and final reading of the bill is scheduled for July 24. Three-quarters of Gambian girls and women of reproductive age have been cut. Female genital cutting can lead to a myriad of health complications, including chronic pain, infection, and obstetric complications later in life. A The New York Times article explores the dramatic reversal. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/dqmm5xar

"Last month, the biopharmaceutical company Gilead shared groundbreaking results from a recent clinical trial (PURPOSE1) for long-acting injectable HIV prevention. The twice-yearly injectable drug, lenacapavir, provided total protection from HIV for a test group of 2,134 women in Uganda and South Africa. Though immense global progress in reducing the spread of HIV has been made in recent decades, women and girls still face a high risk of contracting the virus. This is particularly the case in Sub-Saharan Africa, where women and girls made up 63 percent of new HIV infections in 2022." Read more in this week’s Dot-Mom column on the Wilson Center | Environmental Change and Security Program blog, New Security Beat, from MHI Program Associate Deekshita Ramanarayanan, MPH: https://bit.ly/3zCFct2

Brazil’s federally mandated, comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is under fire. A report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) found that over the past decade, conservative groups have put forth more than 200 legislative proposals with the express intent to ban sexual orientation and gender education in primary and secondary schools. "Global precedent warns of the dangers posed to students by the absence of CSE in schools, and particularly to LGBTQ+ youth," writes Bella Wexler in this week’s Dot-Mom column on the Wilson Center | Environmental Change and Security Program blog, New Security Beat. Read more here: https://bit.ly/4cK9XdB

“Midwifery and investing in midwifery are so critical. Even the best climate models couldn’t predict how quickly things would start happening,” said Elena Ateva, Director of Climate and Disaster Resilience at Americares. A recent event at The Wilson Center, in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), examined the role that midwives can play in building resilience to climate change. Read the event summary on Wilson Center | Environmental Change and Security Program's blog, New Security Beat, here: https://lnkd.in/dRR4cTEQ

This Sunday, May 5, is the International Day of the Midwife. This year’s theme, “Midwives: A Vital Climate Solution,” acknowledges the role that midwives play by delivering environmentally sustainable health services, adapting health systems to climate change, and as first responders when climate-related disasters occur. In recognition of the #InternationalDayoftheMidwife, The Wilson Center’s Maternal Health Initiative posed key questions to leaders working as midwifery focal points in Jhpiego country offices on how they see the role of midwives in climate resilience in their country. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/e5cFJiev #midwife #midwifery #climatereslilience #climatechange #maternalhealth #healthcare