This novel text outlines issues faced by the majority of women living in low and middle income countries. The unique aspect of this book is the numerous examples of innovative solutions that have been implemented in various global settings. The chapter authors are transparent concerning the barriers encountered and successes experienced. This book covers well known medical issues related to pregnancy (like maternal morbidity, and abortion, female genital cutting), HIV, and gynecologic cancers with a focus on cervical cancer prevention and treatment. This book goes beyond the medical diagnoses to explore the social determinants of health such as environment priorities like the water-health nexus, social ills like human trafficking, political influencers like the impact of advocacy and low and high resource countries' government agendas and the books closes with a discussion on the bioethical dilemmas. This goal of this book is to enable the reader to understand that by improving the status of women how this benefits the whole family and community. We ultimately hope that the reader becomes engaged in the process of improving the status of these women's.

While childbirth is a normal part of most women's lives and a process which usually proceeds without any real risk, for the world's poorest women this is often not the case. Poverty, malnutrition, female genital mutilation, child marriage and AIDS put these women in a high risk bracket from Day 1 of their pregnancies. To make matters worse, when things go wrong they often have no easy access to healthcare, when they get to a clinic or hospital skilled staff may not be available or, if they are, the drugs and equipment they need may well not be at their disposal. War, natural disasters and a lack of infrastructure, not to mention corruption and entrenched cultural attitudes which are not sympathetic towards the challenges women face present yet more problems. In this book the author, an obstetrician gynaecologist with extensive experience of working in developing countries, provides an insight into these and other problems by telling individual women's stories. Each account highlights a different problem. For this special study edition university lecturer and teacher Sylvie Donna has written questions to go with each account to help facilitate reflection and discussion; the questions can either be used for personal study or by tutors in seminars; the book's index will help students complete assignments, think through issues and develop potential solutions. Work which is already being carried out to help vulnerable populations is also outlined by the author, Dr Jean Chamberlain Froese, who founded the Canadian charity Save the Mothers, and by her husband, freelance journalist Thomas Froese. Where relevant, statistics are also provided so as to give readers a clearer picture of the real situation facing women and healthcare providers in some of the world's poorest countries.

All over the world, even as you read this, mothers in poor countries struggle to deliver their babies without lifesaving medical care. This is, perhaps, the last unreached frontier of modern medicine. Walk with Dr. Jean Chamberlain Froese as she extends a hand of compassion and professional care to mothers in desperate danger. "In these days of high-tech medicine, it is refreshing that a doctor writes, first-hand, so passionately about people and their real lives. These moving stories should serve as a call for action by all who care." Professor Mahmoud F. Fathalla Past-President of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics "Reading Dr. Chamberlain Froese's vignettes, I was moved to tears and anger and prayer for the women who live in such poverty of health care. She has captured the pathos, hope and despair of women who have so little of what we see as essential health care during pregnancy and delivery. I believe this book has a vital message that will open new dimensions in understanding and compassion." Becky Davey, RN, BS, MN, International Consultant for Medical and Educational Advance "The medicalization of health care in the West has lead to a 'laissez faire' attitude towards childbirth. Blending experience with passion, Dr. Chamberlain Froese confronts and dispels conventional thinking by unveiling the tragic realities of pregnancy-related complications. Reading this book makes you uncomfortable; and it should. It unfolds the plight of those who daily live on the fulcrum of life.or death." Dr. John D. Hull President, EQUIP International Atlanta, Georgia Dr. Jean Chamberlain Froese is a Canadian obstetrician/gynaecologist whose work has taken her to some of themany neglected mothers in the developing world: in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Ecuador, and most recently, Yemen and Uganda. When in Canada, she is based in Hamilton, Ontario, where she is an assistant professor at McMaster University and executive director of Save the Mothers. She is happily married to Thomas Froese, a freelance journalist. They have two children, Elizabeth and Jonathan.

This is an innovative text using didactic information and case studies to address those issues that affect most of the world's women. The first half of the book focuses on health issues that specifically affect women such as maternal mortality, fistulas, and cervical cancer. The second part of the book discusses how agencies such as governments, non-governmental organisations, and professional societies can partner and improve standards for women. By affecting the status of women, the whole family and community ultimately benefit.