Maternal mortality causes 56,000 deaths every year in India, accounting for 20 percent of maternal deaths around the world, said John Townsend, vice president and director of the Population Council’s reproductive health program. It is a key battleground for maternal health advocates. But maternal health is sometimes eclipsed by other major health and development issues on the sub-continent. For example, nearly five times as many people suffer from HIV/AIDS and more than 400 million people live on less than $1.25 a day. [Video Below]

The original version of this article, by Cat Lazaroff, appeared on Resource Media.

What does family planning have to do with Earth Day? More than you might think. Family planning gives women and families the tools they need to decide whether and when to have children – and that, quite literally, can mean the world.

Sub-Saharan Africa is perhaps the riskiest place for a woman to give birth. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), African women comprise approximately 56 percent of the maternal deaths and 91 percent of HIV-related maternal deaths worldwide every year. In order to bring life into this world, women in Africa literally must put their own lives on the line.

The original version of this article, by Rebecca Fishman, appeared on the WASH Advocates and Maternal Health Task Force blogs.

Access to clean water is not only one of the world’s most urgent health issues, but it is also a key to boosting progress in developing countries. Women and children are disproportionately affected by inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), and they shoulder the largest burden in collecting drinking water. What is more, when the needs of women and girls are not taken into account, the effects are felt far and wide, reaching across the education, health, security, and economic sectors.  On the other hand, improving WASH can have positive impacts throughout a girl’s life and can even extend across generations. As we know, when women thrive, so do their communities.

Ten years ago, a study was conducted in Mozambique to determine the impact of a new medicine for pregnant women with malaria. Over 1,000 women participated in a controlled trial of intermittent preventative treatment with sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine – half received a placebo, the other half received the actual drug. All were given an insecticide-treated net.

The original version of this op-ed, by Sam Loewenberg, appeared in The New York Times.

Americans love success stories. Go to the web sites of the United States Agency for International Development, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, or a plethora of global health and development organizations, and you’ll find articles, charts, and videos documenting their triumphs and innovations, with the promise of more on the way.

On day three of the 2013 Global Maternal Health Conference here in Arusha, Tanzania, I was joined by the Global Health Initiative’s partners to present the results of the Wilson Center’s four-year-old Advancing Dialogue on Maternal Health Series. This series is unique in its convening power, helping to bring together experts and policymakers from around the world to collaborate on a shared goal: healthier mothers and children.