Despite improvements in healthcare across many developing nations, women still suffer from health inequalities at every stage of life.

Lack of access to basic maternity services is responsible for 600,000 women's deaths every year during pregnancy or childbirth, the vast majority in developing countries.

Maternal death rates are particularly high among girls who have children in their teens. Complications from pregnancy are the leading cause of death among girls between 15 and 19 worldwide.

Prolonged labour without access to basic obstetric care means two million women across Africa, Asia and the Middle East develop fistula which causes chronic incontinence, lifelong humiliation and often isolation. Treatment is usually a simple surgical procedure, but most women affected don't even know it is available. Those that do can rarely afford it. There are between 50,000 and 100,000 new cases of fistula every year.

Lack of education and harmful traditional practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation compound health risks for women and girls.  In some parts of the world, extreme poverty and cultural practices also lead to high levels of female infanticide.

In poor families, girls suffer disproportionately from illness like anaemia and malnutrition. The low status of women, their lack of education and high levels of sexual violence also means young women are now the main victims of HIV and AIDS. In sub-Saharan Africa, young females are three times more likely to have HIV than their male counterparts.

The lack of resources for women's health conditions is compounded by traditions and taboos which mean women in many societies are not encouraged to examine their bodies or to seek medical help.

Changing this sorry position in large parts of the world requires focus nationally and internationally on improving education, tackling harmful social customs and a much increased emphasis and funding of healthcare provision for women.