Maternal Health

As the United States approaches its 2014 deadline for military withdrawal from Afghanistan, one often overshadowed aspect of the conflict is the hard-won progress made by previously marginalized segments of the Afghan population, particularly women, girls, and young people.

According to the UN Population Fund, more than 140 million girls will become child brides between 2011 and 2020 – an estimated 14.2 million young girls marrying too young every year or 39,000 daily. The majority of these girls do not receive access to education or reproductive health services.

Despite increases in the availability of maternal health care across Nigeria, maternal mortality rates remain high, averaging 630 per 100,000 live births in 2010, compared to the world average of 210.

To mark World No Tobacco Day, the Woodrow Wilson Center Latin America Program in cooperation with the World Bank cohosted a high-level event featuring Dr. Tabaré Vázquez, ex-President of Uruguay, and one of the main policymakers behind Tobacco control policies in his country.  Dr. Vázquez provided an overview of Uruguay’s efforts to reduce non-communicable diseases with a special emphasis on tobacco control.

How can NGOs and civil society promote environmental protection and improve people’s health and livelihoods in remote tropical forests? Two NGOs with innovative programs in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea spoke at the Wilson Center on May 30 about their efforts to simultaneously tackle these issues and highlight their intricate relationship. 

“Today we have a golden opportunity to use respectful maternal care to break new ground at the intersection of health and human rights,” said Lynn Freedman, director of the Averting Maternal Death and Disability Program and professor of clinical population and family health at Columbia University, at the Wilson Center.