Sarah B. Barnes

Dr. Claudia Donkor

Deborah Denis

Mushtaq Khan

Jihan Salad

Harriet Ruysen

Rondi Anderson, PhD

Hani Rukh-E-Qamar

Bangladesh. Rohingya women in refugee camps share stories of loss and hopes of recovery. UN Women. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/

Sarah B. Barnes engages maternal and newborn health experts to better understand what the needs of women and newborns during a humanitarian crisis.

As Humanitarian Crises Grow, So Do Risks for Women and Newborns

Jay Gribble

So often in conversations about demography, the discussion is data-heavy and alarmist, looking at population trends from the 30,000-foot view and leaving out the individual needs of the people. The International Conference on Population Development (1994 in Cairo) was a watershed moment that led to a prioritization of individual needs in development and its Program of Action led to the steering committee of UNFPA and their work on SRHR. 30 years since the Cairo conference makes it an opportune time to highlight the people behind the trends, persistent inequities, and some solutions. 

Moving Beyond Fertility Targets

Sarah B. Barnes speaks with Dr. Henia Dakkak, head of Policy and Liaison Unit, Humanitarian Unit, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), who is currently living in Moldova to support relief from the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. They examine the lasting effects of conflict, trauma, and displacement on the health of Ukrainian women and girls. 

Mental, Maternal, and Newborn Health

Dr. Ihlas Altinci, MD

Creating Hope: A Physician Who Fled Syria’s War Builds a Haven for Other Women and Girls Displaced by Conflict

Syria’s civil war has created large volumes of human displacement. Dr. Ihlas Altinci had everything she could ever want, but when she was detained and accused of being a suicide bomber – her shoes matched the description of those the suspect was wearing – it made her realize she wasn’t as secure as she thought. She and her family left Aleppo for Turkey in 2013, in what was to be a stopover to Germany. Eight years later, she remains in Turkey where she is a sexual and reproductive health advisor for CARE in Gaziantep; she also manages projects and health facilities involving refugees and other populations in Syria. Dr. Ihlas, as she likes to be called, spoke with Sarah B. Barnes, Director of the Maternal Health Initiative at the Woodrow Wilson Center.