Wilson Center Event | Too Much Too Soon: Addressing Over-Intervention in Maternity Care

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We are excited to announce the upcoming policy dialogue, “Too Much Too Soon: Addressing Over-Intervention in Maternity Care.”  The event will take place at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. (and online!) on Monday, 24 April 2017 from 11:00am – 1:00pm. This dialogue is part of the Maternal Health Task Force’s Advancing Dialogue on Maternal Health Series, in partnership with UNFPA and the Wilson Center.

Interested in attending or following along online? See the invitation from the Wilson Center below to learn more and register for the event.


The growing rate of unnecessary cesarean sections, continuous fetal monitoring and overuse of antibiotics after vaginal delivery in medical facilities demonstrate how too much is done too soon—when it’s not needed—in maternity care. Last September, The Lancet released its second maternal health series, which warns of the increase in over-medicalization and over-intervention in health systems. Although high-income countries have historically been more likely to practice over-intervention compared to low-income countries, lower-middle-income and middle-income countries are increasingly practicing over-intervention, with cesarean sections rates in Mexico observed at about 50 percent, compared to the United States at 32 percent.

On April 24, please join the Wilson Center’s Maternal Health Initiative, United Nations Population Fund and the Maternal Health Task Force for a discussion of this important topic. Lunch will be served after the discussion.

Speakers

Suellen Miller
Director, Safe Motherhood Program; Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Health Sciences, University of California, San Francisco

Saraswathi Vedam
Associate Professor, Midwifery Program, The University of British Columbia

Myriam Vuckovic
Adjunct Assistant Professor, International Health Department, Georgetown University

Moderator

Anneka Knutsson
Chief, Sexual and Reproductive Health, United Nations Population Fund

Host

Roger-Mark De Souza
Director, Population, Environmental Security and Resilience, Wilson Center

Event details

Monday, April 24, 2017
11:00am – 1:00pm
5th Floor Conference Room | Wilson Center | Washington, D.C.

Lunch will be served after the discussion.

Want to attend but can’t? Tune into the live or archived webcast at WilsonCenter.org the day of the event.

Join the conversation on Twitter by using #MHDialogue and following @NewSecurityBeat and @MHTF. Find related coverage on NewSecurityBeat.org.


Check out past dialogues in this series.

Read key findings from The Lancet Maternal Health Series on the MHTF blog.