Midwives Are Key to Climate Resilience

Wednesday, June 12 // 9:30–11:00 am (ET)

Midwives are an essential climate solution. The increasing impacts of climate change have an outsized impact on maternal and newborn health, as well as access to family planning and other vital health services. Midwives play a critical role in providing essential health services during climate-related disasters, and in the context of the lasting impacts of climate change on health systems.

However, there remains a global shortage of midwives and a lack of investment and commitment to their training and support. The current global focus on climate change offers an opportune time to showcase the role of midwives as climate change champions and leaders in climate action.

Join the Wilson Center’s Maternal Health Initiative, in partnership with UNFPA, for a virtual panel discussion on the role of midwives in building resilience to climate change. The event will highlight some innovative and adaptive strategies midwives have used when faced with extreme heat, flooding, and wildfires while caring for women and families. Speakers will also discuss policies and programming that are necessary to support midwives as frontline workers in areas affected by climate change.

STILL TO Come THIS Week

The Changing Nature of Security Threats in the Central Sahel Region: The Rise of Self-Defense Groups and Private Security Companies

Monday, June 10 // 1–2:00 pm (ET)

Mr. Ansoumane Samassy Souare will discuss how the activities of community self-defense groups and private security companies have evolved over the years in the Central Sahel region. He will explain how the activities of these groups are impacting the peace and security landscape in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.

Zhou Enlai: A Life

Tuesday, June 11 // 9:30–11:00 am (ET)

Chen Jian authors Zhou Enlai: A Life, the first archive-records-based and comprehensive biography in English of China’s premier for twenty-seven years. He offers a nuanced portrait of Zhou’s dilemmas-ridden life as a revolutionary, an eminent and pragmatic statesman, a diplomatic giant, and, in the final analysis, a person with his own vision and aspiration who did much to make China, as well as the larger world, what it is today.

New Hurdles for Elections in Latin America

Wednesday, June 12 // 10–11:30 am (ET)

Join the Wilson Center’s Latin America Program to discuss the challenges Latin America’s election systems face, the lessons learned from recent elections in the region, and opportunities to reassure voters in the region of the credibility of elections and the democratic legitimacy of the winners

Children at Risk at the Border Report Release

Wednesday, June 12 // 3–4:15 pm (ET)

In 2011, Appleseed Mexico and the Appleseed Network released a groundbreaking report entitled “Children at the Border: The Screening and Protection and Repatriation of Unaccompanied Mexican Minors,” (Full Report, Executive Summary) detailing policy and operation problems with the treatment of Mexican unaccompanied children (UACs) at the US-Mexico border. Unfortunately, over a decade later, major problems continue and Mexican UACs are still in need of significantly more support and protections. To address these issues, the Appleseed Network and Appleseed Mexico have published an updated report, which takes a hard look at the situation and policies on both sides of the border and offers a comprehensive set of solutions to improve treatment of Mexican UACs.