Wilson Center Event | Humanitarian Response in Urban Settings: Meeting the Maternal and Newborn Health Needs of Displaced Persons

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We are excited to announce the upcoming dialogue, “Humanitarian Response in Urban Settings: Meeting the Maternal and Newborn Health Needs of Displaced Persons.” The event will take place at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. (and online!) on Wednesday, 31 May 2017 from 2:00pm – 4:00pm. 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.


Humanitarian crises expose vast health inequities. Globally, women and children are up to 14 times more likely to die than men in a humanitarian crisis. And of the 15 countries with the highest neonatal mortality rates, 14 are affected by chronic conflict or political instability.

The world’s humanitarian landscape is changing. Today more than 60% of the world’s refugees and 80% of internally displaced persons (IDPs) live in urban areas. Strains on local systems due to population density and diversity, political complexity, the presence of informal power structures and other common features of urban settings can exacerbate pre-existing health inequities that harm displaced mothers and newborns. Such unique urban challenges require humanitarian actors to rethink how and where they respond.

On 31 May, please join Save the Children, the Maternal Health Task Force and the Wilson Center’s Maternal Health Initiative for a discussion on the issues and lessons learned in responding to the needs of displaced persons in urban areas, with an emphasis on maternal and newborn health.

Speakers

Sarah Ashraf
Advisor, Reproductive Health in Emergencies, Save the Children

Dr. Stephanie Kayden
Chief, Division of International Emergency Medicine and Humanitarian Program, Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Director, Lavine Family Humanitarian Studies Initiative, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative

Samer Saliba
Urban Technical Specialist, International Rescue Committee

Alicia Wilson
Executive Director, La Clínica del Pueblo

Moderator

Mary Nell Wegner
Deputy Director of Policy & Technical Support, Maternal Health Task Force, Women and Health Initiative, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health

Host

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

Event details

Wednesday, 31 May 2017
2:00pm – 4:00pm EST
5th Floor Conference Room | Wilson Center | Washington, DC

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.