Kampala — As world leaders gather in New York to review progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), increased attention is needed to improve maternal health, the goal showing the least progress.

Everyday, over 1,400 women and adolescent girls die needlessly from giving birth and 40,000 more suffer injuries and disabilities that can last a lifetime. Complications of pregnancy are the leading cause of death for young women aged 15 to 19 in the developing world.

This is deplorable. It is also indefensible given that it comes in the 21st Century, a time of unprecedented scientific achievement and wealth. The majority of maternal deaths and disabilities could be prevented if every woman had access to reproductive health services. This includes family planning, skilled attendance at birth and emergency obstetric care. Efforts to tackle root causes, such as gender inequality and child marriage, are needed. Egypt, Jamaica, and Sri Lanka have registered significant declines in maternal death; some nations have halved their maternal death rates in a decade. Providing access to family planning and professionally trained midwives has been critical to this success.

Urgent efforts are needed to reduce maternal deaths by 75% and ensure universal access to reproductive health by 2015.In the past eight years, advances in improving maternal health were achieved in middle-income countries.

Progress is slowest in sub-Saharan Africa, where more than half of all maternal deaths occur largely due to weak and crumbling health systems and shortages of skilled health workers. As a result, a woman in Africa faces a one in 26 lifetime risk of maternal death compared to a risk of one in 7,300 for a woman in developed regions.

The gap between rich and poor in maternal death is among the largest for any development indicator. This inequity must be tackled as part of our efforts to promote human dignity and eliminate extreme poverty. No woman should die giving life. It is time to put the reproductive health and rights of women at the top of the international development agenda.

We need stronger leadership backed by increased resources. Momentum exists. Let us build on it so that every woman can count on the health system to deliver.

The writer is the executive director of UNFPA