Please join the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA), the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Global Health Initiative and Environmental Change and Security Program, the Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF), and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for the fourth event of the series on Advancing Policy Dialogue on Maternal Health.

Family Planning in Fragile States: Overcoming Cultural and Financial Barriers

The event will feature:

Nabila Zar Malick, Director, Rahnuma Family Planning Association of Pakistan

Karima Tunau, OB/GYN, Usmanu Danpodiyo Hospital

Grace Kodindo, Assistant Professor of Population and Family Health, Columbia University

Sandra Krause, Reproductive Health Program Director, Women’s Refugee Commission

April 29, 2010

3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

6^th Floor Flom Auditorium

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Please RSVP to globalhealth@wilsoncenter.org with your name and affiliation.

Countries threatened by conflict rank lowest on maternal and newborn health indicators and have fewer resources for reproductive health services such as family planning and emergency obstetric care. Improving access to sexual and reproductive health services in fragile states may challenge cultural beliefs and gender relations within a country. Program managers, policymakers, and donors can mitigate these tensions through culturally sensitive approaches and increased female participation during peacebuilding efforts.

Nabila Zar Malick, director, Rahnuma Family Planning Association of Pakistan, Karima Tunau, OB/GYN, Usmanu Danpodiyo Hospital in Nigeria, and Grace Kodindo, Chadian OB/GYN and assistant professor of population and family health, at Columbia University will discuss their experiences implementing family planning services in Pakistan, Nigeria, and Chad and address the cultural and financial barriers they overcame to increase investments for maternal and reproductive health in their countries. Sandra Krause, reproductive health program director, Women’s Refugee Commission, will offer recommendations on how policymakers can improve access to reproductive health services for women in fragile settings.

About the Maternal Health Policy Series

The reproductive and maternal health community finds itself at a critical point, drawing increased attention and funding, but still confronting more than a half million deaths each year and a high unmet need for family planning. The Policy Dialogue series seeks to galvanize the community by focusing on important–and in some cases controversial–issue within the maternal health community.

The Wilson Center’s Global Health Initiative is pleased to present this series with its co-conveners, the Maternal Health Task Force and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and is grateful to USAID’s Bureau for Global Health for further technical assistance.

If you are interested, but unable to attend the event, please tune into the live or archived webcast at www.wilsoncenter.org. The webcast will begin approximately 10 minutes after the posted meeting time. You will need Windows Media Player to watch the webcast. To download the free player, visit: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download.

Location: Woodrow Wilson Center at the Ronald Reagan Building: 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW (”Federal Triangle” stop on Blue/Orange Line), 6^th Floor Flom Auditorium. A map to the Center is available here.

Note: Photo identification is required to enter the building. Please allow additional time to pass through security.

For information on previous and future events in this series, click here.