By: Madeline Taskier, Partnership Coordinator at Women Deliver
By 2030, more than 5 billion people will be living in urban
settings, a trend that will have the greatest effect in Asia and
Africa. Health care services in urban areas have not caught up
with the rapid pace of population growth, leaving much of the
urban poor without access to healthcare. This week, at the
Woodrow Wilson Center, the Maternal Health Task Force, UNFPA,
and USAID co-hosted a policy dialogue series focusing on the
state of maternal health in urban slums. Despite the relative
proximity and concentration of health centers in urban compared
to rural areas, poor women are still not able to access quality
maternal health care. Uncovering High-Need Urban Populations -
Urban settings are a mix of migrants, refugees, ethnic groups,
and diverse economic populations. Finding common ground for
health service provision and dedicated community leaders is
challenging with a heterogeneous population. - Slums are defined
as informal living spaces wh