On Wednesday, September 24, a large crowd gathered at Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood, Tennessee, to listen to experts in the field of maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) with a special emphasis on healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy (HTSP). The conference hosted speakers from faith, politics, service providers, and other policy experts on these issues to lecture and engage the attendees an active discussion, including a Q & A, on the topic.

Mike Glenn, pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church and a contributor to The Mother & Child Project, opened with a prayer and a short sermon on the inkeeper in the nativity story. Perhaps, he suggests, the innkeeper tried his best to give Mary a private place to give birth to her baby boy. And that we are now poised to stand as Inkeepers to the millions of women worldwide who seek help for their maternal health.

This was followed by a interview led by Jenny Eaton Dyer, PhD, Executive Director of Hope Through Healing Hands, of Senator Bil Frist, MD, also contributors to The Mother & Child Project. Senator Frist laid the foundation for the problems we face in the field of maternal and child health and healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy, or family planning, and he encouraged everyone to advocate with their congressional representatives and senators about the issues.

Frist was followed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations' Gary Darmstadt, Senior Fellow Global Development Program, and Tom Walsh, Senior Program Officer Global Policy and Advocacy. Gary presented a very data-driven survey of MNCH, showing that 11 million births worldwide occur in high-income nations with adequate medical care. But 50 million occur in low-income nations, often at home with no medical care. Sometimes even completely alone. He said, "These inequities [for moms] should not be in the world, and we all have the power and responsibility to change them." 

Tom Walsh reinforced this idea from his political perspective and area of expertise by saying, "Advocacy is letting your representatives know the have support to do what they already know is right to do."

Local and national service providers hosted breakout sessions describing their work, on the ground, in maternal and child health, including family planning. Local groups Lwala Community Alliance and LiveBeyond shared about their work in Kenya and Haiti, and Compassion International, Food for the Hungry, and World Vision discussed their global work in healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies. Their anecdotes, experience, and fresh statistics really made these issues personal.

After a catered lunch and an active Q&A discussion with a panel of all speakers, including John and Avril Thomas of Living Hope Community Center in Capetown, South Africa, Jenny Dyer closed the event with "what you can do," next steps for awareness and advocacy for the Nashville community.

To find out about more events like this coming to your town in the future, follow us at @HTHHglobal on Twitter.