The Dot-Mom column of the Environmental Change and Security Program’s New Security Beat blog serves as a platform to shed light on diverse perspectives and insights from experts in maternal and reproductive health, gender equity, and peace and security. In 2023, the Dot-Mom column was marked by an incredible number of guest contributor articles.

The growing climate crisis presents one of the largest public health threats of the century. However, its countless impacts on maternal and newborn health outcomes (as well as health disparities worldwide) have only recently gained global attention.

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.

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.

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.

One in every 23 people is expected to need humanitarian assistance in 2023. That is a record 339 million this year alone. During such humanitarian crises, the needs of women, newborns and adolescents are often unmet, with devastating consequences. In fact, in 2023, 58 percent of global maternal deaths, 50 percent of newborn deaths, and 51 percent of stillbirths worldwide occur in the 29 countries with a UN humanitarian response plan or regional response plan.

In 2021, 1.9 million stillbirths occurred globally. A baby who dies at or after 28 weeks of pregnancy,* and is born with no sign of life is classified as a stillbirth. Stillbirths can be caused by pregnancy and childbirth-related complications, like hemorrhage, placental abruption, and pre-eclampsia; maternal infections during pregnancy, including malaria and sexually transmitted infections; prolonged pregnancy to 42 weeks or more; and pre-existing health conditions. Other risk factors include maternal age and smoking during pregnancy.