Developing international networks to address the historic and contemporary antenatal crisis

Over the past century, Western countries have pumped large sums of money into biomedicine and family planning. Yet we know little about how, when and why pregnant women engage with such services. 

My project develops the transnational historical, practitioner and third-sector context for understanding when and on what terms low-income pregnant women engage with preventive medicine in the US and developing countries. An international symposium will gather medical humanities scholars researching pregnancy care in different countries to strengthen the global context behind a patient-centred research agenda tackling poverty, pregnancy and healthcare. Meetings with healthcare practitioners and third-sector groups currently addressing maternal health will establish research priorities, identify collaborators and ensure contemporary concerns inform historical questions. These meetings will also explore an impact agenda. 

These activities will strengthen the global network of scholars, practitioners and third-sector organisations interested in maternity, poverty and prevention and drive a patient-centred research agenda.