While maternal mortality remains a huge issue on the global development agenda, reproductive health problems remain the leading cause of ill health and death for women of childbearing age worldwide. Every day, approximately 800 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Every week some 3,500,000 young people, mostly young women, are infected with an STI (excluding HIV), and globally, one in five women will experience sexual violence in her lifetime. While progress has been made, South Sudan has some of the worst reproductive and maternal health statistics in the world. A maternal mortality ratio of 2,054 per 100,000 live births means approximately one out of every 50 births results in the death of a mother. This has further ramifications, as evidence shows that infants who lose their mothers are more likely to die before reaching their second birthday. Across the Pacific more than 50 percent of people are under the age of 25 - a section of the population which suffers a disproportionate burden of poor sexual and reproductive health, ranging from STIs to teenage pregnancies. And young adolescents face a higher risk of complications and death as a result of pregnancy than older women. How do we help protect women's right to health in these contexts? What progress have we seen against Millennium Development Goal 5, and what gaps remain? How can health systems in developing countries meet the reproductive health needs of their populations, and achieve greater health equality for women and girls? To discuss these issues and more, we are joined by Dr Samson Baba, Director General of Community and Public Health in South Sudan, the Hon Dr Meredith Burgmann, President of the Australian Council For International Development (ACFID) and Michele Rumsey, Director of Operations and Development at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Development, Faculty of Health at UTS. This event is part of the Praxis Discussion Series 2013, connecting to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste. Recorded Friday, August 9th Moderator Auskar Surbakti, Journalist, ABC