“The aspirations of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs are really high, and the data that will enable that have a long way to go,” said Rachel Snow from the United Nations Population Fund at a Wilson Center event on July 14, 2017.

More than 60 percent of the world’s refugees and 80 percent of internally displaced persons (IDPs) now live in urban areas. In contrast to traditional refugee camps, which have mainly been in rural areas, cities and other urban settings can offer refugees greater economic opportunities, a degree of anonymity, and better access to services—at least in theory, said Mary Nell Wegner, executive director of the Maternal Health Task Force, at the Wilson Center on May 31. However, in practice, the urban advantage may be a myth, as local systems, already strained by growing populations, are not well equipped to handle a large influx of people with complex needs.

For years, the primary approach to improving global maternal health was additive – to increase capacity to address shortfalls in clinics, doctors, supplies, information, and skilled care. Today, however, some women are experiencing issues related to the opposite problem: too much.

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.