| Jill Sheffield | |
| Birth Name: | Jill Sheffield |
| Known For: | Advocating internationally for women's sexual & reproductive rights as well as decreased maternal mortality |
| Notable Works: | Founder of Women Deliver |
Jill Sheffield is a global advocate for women's sexual and reproductive health and rights, as well as for the reduction of maternal mortality worldwide. She is the founder of Women Deliver and Family Care International (integrated into Management Sciences for Health in 2015).[1]
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Sheffield received a Bachelor of Arts in education in 1961 from Glassboro State College (now Rowan University) [2] and Master of Arts in comparative and international education in 1963 from Columbia University.[3] [4]
Sheffield's advocacy career began while volunteering in the family planning clinic at the Pumwani Maternity Hospital in Kenya in the 1960s.[5] It was the first such clinic in East Africa.[6] At the time, Kenyan women who went to the clinic were legally prohibited from using contraception without their husbands’ permission. Sheffield transitioned from teaching to advocating for women's reproductive, sexual, and maternal rights.[7] [8] Sheffield served as director of the Carnegie Corporation of New York's International Program[9] and as director of Africa and Latin America programs and regional representative for World Education.[10]
In 1987, Sheffield co-founded Family Care International (FCI), a non-profit global organization focused on improving the maternal health of women in the world's poorest nations; she served as its president for 20 years.[7] FCI was the first international organization founded specifically to focus on maternal mortality.[11] FCI was integrated into Management Sciences for Health in 2015.
In 2007, Sheffield founded Women Deliver,[12] originally a conference focused on maternal health that evolved into an advocacy organization.[13] It seeks to generate political commitment and financial investment to reduce maternal mortality and increase access to reproductive health.[14] In 2016, Sheffield retired from the organization.[15]
In 2011, Sheffield served as one of 30 commissioners on the UN Commission on Information and Accountability for Women's and Children's Health. Sheffield has been involved with the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region, and Population Communications International.[16] Sheffield has been Chair of Woman Care Global (now Catalyst Global), Chair of the FIGO Committee on Contraception and Family Planning,[17] External Advisor to the IPPF Governing Council, and Senior Adviser to Global Health Strategies. In 2018, Sheffield was named a board member of Catalyst Global (formerly WCG Cares).
The American Public Health Association granted Sheffield its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008,[18] the same year that Family Care International received the United Nations Population Award for outstanding work in sexual and reproductive health and rights.[19] [20] Sheffield has also been recognized as a distinguished alumna by Columbia University's Teachers College.
Along with Melinda Gates, Sheffield was awarded the 2016 Champions for Change Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW).[21]