Holly Reed, Associate Professor, City University of New York

About the Presentation

Despite the nearly 30‐year old global Safe Motherhood Initiative, maternal mortality remains quite high, especially in sub‐Saharan Africa. There have been important reductions in maternal mortality ratios (MMRs), but although much is known about how to prevent maternal deaths, MMRs remain stubbornly high in most sub‐Saharan African nations. The World Bank is major funder of Safe Motherhood investments in the region, but the Bank’s financing methods for these programs are loans coupled with structural adjustment programs, rather than grants or loans with no strings attached. We examine the impact of World Bank Safe Motherhood programs and structural adjustment loans on maternal mortality in 33 sub‐Saharan African countries between 1995 and 2005 using two‐way fixed effects models. We find that although Safe Motherhood loans are associated with reduced maternal mortality, there is an opposite effect for structural adjustment policies; this “organized hypocrisy” may be eroding any gains in maternal mortality.

Please Note Change of Venue for the Event (2113 Chincoteague Hall)

About the Speaker

Holly E. Reed is Associate Professor of Sociology at Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY), a faculty member in Sociology and Public Health at the CUNY Graduate Center, and an associate of the CUNY Institute for Demographic Research. Professor Reed’s recent and current research focuses on: 1) the trajectories and outcomes of undocumented immigrant youth in higher education in the U.S.; 2) demographic dynamics in sub-Saharan Africa and the United States, with a concentration on migration processes and their impact on migrants’ health and well-being; 3) how subnational fertility differentials in Nigeria will affect future population growth; and 4) how the World Bank’s investment in safe motherhood programs affects maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. She has published articles in journals such as Demography, Demographic Research, Health and Place, Sociological Forum, African Population Studies, and Population Review. Professor Reed previously served as a program officer for the Committee on Population of the National Academies in Washington, DC, where she directed and wrote numerous policy research studies on demographic topics.  She has a Ph.D. in sociology from Brown University, and an M.A. in demography and B.S. in international relations from Georgetown University. She has regularly served on international panels focused on migration and refugee research and policy.