A8 - Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Maternal Mortality Review Partnership: Nurturing Understanding, Data Sovereignty and Capacity

This session will provide an overview of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) crisis in Alaska and how it intersects with maternal mortality. We will explore a partnership between the Alaska Maternal Child Death Review Program and a grassroots community partner working within the Alaska MMIWG movement. The session will use a series of engaging exercises to move through lessons that deepened our own understanding and reverence for respective approaches and often divergent (but not necessarily conflicting) understandings at the confluence of the MMIWG and maternal mortality crises.
A focal activity will be a simulated maternal mortality review process using a fictitious case example. Although designed to be a useful exercise for those engaged in maternal mortality review programs, the activity does not require prior maternal mortality committee review experience and this session is intended for a broad audience with interests ranging from violence prevention to managing bias and supporting or partnering with community-led initiatives. The case example will be designed to elicit discussion around key topics and constructs that emerged as needing clarification and exploration of different understanding and cultural perspective. Discussion about these constructs and why they matter will frame the interactive discussion and activities following the simulation.
Objectives include:
Describe diverse cultural perceptions and beliefs related to maternal deaths from violence and/or MMIWG. Discuss implications for maternal mortality review process and data.
Strengthen partnerships through openness to lived experience even when it conflicts with established practices and beliefs, and through authenticity as a data steward.
Using the Alaska MMRC and MMIWG partnership example, identify an opportunity to deepen shared understanding about a problem through a partnership. Discuss ideas and strategies to foster or strengthen the relationship.