Development: Dying at childbirth every minute

Fifteen years after 179 nations agreed to implement a plan of action on sexual health, a woman still dies every minute because of inadequate pregnancy and birth services, according to the World Health Organisation. These alarming figures were under the spotlight at the opening of a forum on sexual and reproductive health and development in Berlin Sep. 2-4. More than 400 representatives of non-governmental organisations from 131 countries are attending the forum, to mark the 15th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo September 1994. "The conference of Cairo of 1994 was a groundbreaking moment in birth and sexual policy and family planning," Laura Villa Torres from the Mexican Youth Network for Sexual and Reproductive Rights told IPS. "Until then, demographic policies both at the national and international level were characterised by undemocratic and sometimes even racist rules, such as forced sterilisations in determined ethnic groups."