In 2018, the Lancet Commission on High Quality Health Systems ignited a global shift in focus and investment for maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH).

Increasing access to care had been a primary focus during previous decades, but the Commission found that as service use increased, “poor-quality care” had become a more significant obstacle to reducing mortality than insufficient access. The Commission also argued that increasing access alone would not achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3—ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being. What the world needed now was an intensified focus on improving quality of care.

Extreme heat can be deadly, and 2023 is on track to be the hottest year on record. In the United States, heatwaves cause more deaths than any other weather related events. In Europe, close to 62,000 deaths during Summer 2022 were linked to heat related causes. Globally, an estimated 5 million people a year die from extreme temperatures–hot and cold.

Of the 1.8 billion people who menstruate each month, 500 million are unable to adequately manage menstruation, leading to health, economic, and safety concerns. Menstruation remains a taboo topic that is often overlooked within health sectors. But recent attention from global health, international development, women’s empowerment, and humanitarian organizations has increased awareness for the impact of menstruation on women’s participation in societies and economies.

The 2023 Women Deliver Conference in Kigali, Rwanda offered participants an opportunity to think deeply about gender equality, and the urgency of this moment in making progress was evident – even at a pre-conference event hosted by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA): Scaling Up Actions to End Preventable Maternal Deaths: Linkages with Family Planning, Bodily Autonomy and the Health Workforce.

Advances in reducing maternal mortality were seen all over the world in recent decades. Unfortunately, that progress now has stagnated, and immediate and decisive action is necessary to change the current trajectory.

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, Update on Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: The View From Parliament, John Milewski, Moderator of the Wilson Center NOW series, interviews Kira Rudik, Member of Parliament of Ukraine, First Deputy Chairwoman of the Parliament Committee on Digital Transformation, Leader of the Golos Liberal Political Party, and Vice-President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). Rudik has spoken with the Wilson Center twice before, as the onset of the war and at its one-year anniversary. This NOW interview centers on updates on the war, the role of government and allies, and the continued resolve of the Ukrainian people.

Imagine trying to perform a C-section, or conduct a delivery, in a hospital with no light.

For hundreds of thousands of health workers, this is the reality they face each night. Close to 300,000 women and one million newborns (primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia) die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth each year. Hemorrhage, infection, eclampsia, obstructed labor, and unsafe abortion cause the majority of obstetric deaths— many of which could be prevented with access to timely emergency obstetric care.