International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Differences in income, life expectancy, and opportunities are greater now between the developed and developing world than at any time in recent history, it has been claimed.

Speaking at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, Dr Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, said extremes of "privilege and misery" are experienced by the global population.

"Greater equity in the health status of populations, within and between countries, should be regarded as key measure of how we, as a civilized society, are making progress," she commented.

Dr Chan claimed that one method for achieving fairness would be for more countries to embrace primary healthcare.

She proposed that such an approach could introduce greater fairness as well as efficiency, allowing health systems to reach their potential as "cohesive, stabilising social institutions".

Earlier this month, Virginia Blaser, the US embassy ambassador in Mauritius, told the News on Sunday that women in the developing world continue to suffer during pregnancy as a result of inaccessible medical care, poverty, and malnutrition.

She claimed that at least 80,000 women around the world suffer complications during pregnancy including obstetric fistula every year.