UN report points to yawning gap of inequality in sexual and reproductive health worldwide

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. population fund says in a new study that an African woman is roughly 130 times more likely to die from pregnancy and childbirth complications than a woman in Europe or North America. UNFPA’s latest “State of World Population” report, released Wednesday, also estimates that nearly 500 maternal deaths occur in countries with humanitarian crises or conflicts, and shows that women of African descent in the Americas are more likely to die giving birth than white women. UNFPA decried widening inequality in sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide.