Most women do not have access to the health care and sexual health education services that they need.

In many developing countries, complications of pregnancy and childbirth (mainly at the level of preconception and prenatal care) are the leading causes of death among women of reproductive age. More than one woman dies every minute from such causes; 585,000 women die every year (WHO). Less than one percent of these deaths occur in developed countries, demonstrating that they could be avoided if resources and services were available (WHO). Any woman can experience sudden and unexpected complications during pregnancy, childbirth, and just after delivery. Although high-quality, accessible health care has made maternal death a rare event in developed countries, these complications can often be fatal in the developing world.

Consequently, mothers in developing nations die in childbirth at a hundred or more times the rate in developed nations (MDG). Access to emergency obstetric care, the most important remedy for women in these regions is not highly regarded as a priority.According to Rafiqul Chaudhury and Zafrullah Chowdhury, in countries like Bangladesh, 68.7% of the women give birth without the assistance of trained birth attendants. Instead relatives or traditional midwives, who are often not capable of handling complications during the delivery serve as birth assistants.

Factors that prevent women in developing countries from getting the health care they need include distance from health services, cost (direct fees as well as the cost of transportation, drugs, and supplies), multiple demands on their time, and women’s lack of decision-making power within the family. The poor quality of services, including poor treatment by health providers, also makes some women reluctant to use services.

According to the World Health Report in 2004, bad maternal conditions account for the fourth leading cause of death for women after HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. Ninety-nine percent of these deaths occur in low-income countries; while only 1 of 4,000 women have a chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth in a developed nation, a woman in Sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 in 16 chance of dying. Furthermore, maternal problems cause almost 20% of the total burden of disease for women in developing countries.

Almost 50% of the births in developing countries take place without a medically skilled attendant to aid the mother and the ratio is even higher in South Asia (UNICEF). Women in Sub-Saharan Africa mainly use traditional birthing attendants, with little or no medicinal training.[citation needed] This largely accounts for the high numbers of maternal deaths in this region.