Global Women's Health: Maternal Mortality, Menopause & Cultural Barriers | Dr. Sadia Malick
Dr. Sadia Malick - Dr. Sadia Malick has practiced medicine across four countries.
She's delivered babies in the UK's best hospitals and in the mountains of Pakistan where women have nothing. She's founded a charity that's saved 8,000 mothers' lives. And she's spent her career caring for women who are told their suffering is just "the age of despair."
In this conversation, we discuss her work training midwives on clean, sanitary practices and providing lifesaving interventions to pregnant women in rural Pakistan. We talk about why 50% of global maternal deaths happen in just four countries, and how simple, evidence-based measures can save lives. Dr. Malick shares how menopause presents differently across cultures and populations, the cultural barriers women face when seeking care, and why conversations about hormones and aging remain deeply stigmatized in many regions.
We also discuss PCOS and insulin resistance in South Asian populations, young cancer survivors who enter menopause without follow-up care, and why vaginal estrogen should be part of routine healthcare for women over 40. This conversation is about cultural humility, global health disparities, and why education about perimenopause needs to start in schools, not at age 40.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
● Why 50% of global maternal mortality is concentrated in just four countries, and how evidence-based interventions can save lives.
● How Sakina Health Foundation has reached 10,000 women with clean birthing kits, midwifery training, and IV iron supplementation.
● How menopause symptoms present differently across populations. South Asian women experience more joint pain and mood disruption than hot flashes.
● The cultural barriers women face when seeking menopause care, including fertility being linked to worth and stigma around aging.
● Why South Asians have higher rates of PCOS due to genetic insulin resistance and how lifestyle interventions can help.
● How 60% of young women with POI are post-chemotherapy patients who receive no follow-up menopausal care.
● Why vaginal estrogen reduces death risk by 70% and should be routine care for women over 40.
● Why vaping, endocrine disruptors, and even polyester clothing are contributing to earlier POI and perimenopause
