This talk will center on issues related to maternal health among female sex workers (FSW) in various LMICs; specifically identifying causes of mortality, barriers to services, and the needs most prioritized by the FSW themselves. This study utilized and adapted a unique research methodology to obtain data about this hidden and vulnerable population called the Community Knowledge Approach, which can be applied to research in areas with little or no infrastructure where deaths may not be reliably documented. Findings are from data collected in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and reveal an urgent need to prioritize vaccine access and other services to FSW and their children.

Speaker

Meghan Fitzgerald, PhD, MPH is a social science researcher with international experience in the Arab world, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Fitzgerald holds a Ph.D. in Health Policy and an MPH in International Health from Oregon State University, where she focused on the impact of the Israeli occupation on intimate partner violence and access to services among women in Palestine. Fitzgerald was the recipient of the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (Sylff) from The Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research as well as the Global Consciousness Award from Oregon State University. Currently, she holds the title of Senior Researcher with the U.S. Overseas Cooperative Development Council, and is a research consultant for Global Health Promise, a nonprofit conducting research and programming on the maternal health of female sex workers in Portland and abroad.