WASHINGTON, March 7 (AFP)

Thursday, March 8 , 2001

Each year, some 515,000 women -- about one woman every minute -- die in pregnancy or childbirth, according to a global study released Wednesday by Population Action International, ahead of International Women's Day.

Universal access to contraception, obstetric care and HIV/AIDS prevention are considered "key interventions" to saving the lives of men and women of reproductive age, the group's president Amy Coen said.

"There are 150 million women in poor countries who want contraceptive care yet have no access," Coen said. "Sex does happen and contraception is needed to limit family size; it ranks up there as equally as important as antibiotics and immunization."

The release of the report ahead of International Women's Day Thursday is a "call to action" to encourage the 179 nations signed on to the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development to honor financial commitments of 17 billion dollars per year (21.7 billion by 2015) to "achieve universal access to basic reproductive health services," Coen said.

"There is a gaping chasm between rich and poor countries when it comes to the sexual and reproductive health of women," Coen said. "With three billion young people -- nearly half the world's population -- entering or soon to enter their reproductive years, we must act now."

The agency's study examined 133 countries -- 91 developing and 42 developed, representing 95 percent of the world's population -- to determine the highest and lowest risks to reproductive health for women of childbearing age.

Italy, with fewer than one per 100 births among women aged 15 to 19, 100 percent of women receiving prenatal care, only 12 deaths per 100,000 live births and less than one percent levels of HIV/AIDS in both men and women, ranks as the country with the lowest risk to reproductive health worldwide.

With 1,400 deaths per 100,000 live births -- or one in seven -- only 20 percent of women receiving prenatal care, seven births per woman on average, and an HIV/AIDS infection rate of 9.4 and 12 percent among men and women respectively, Ethiopia, the former Italian colony, ranks highest.

According to the report, sub-Saharan Africa is plagued by chronic lack of access to medical care for women, be it access to contraception, prenatal care or skilled assistance at births.

Of the 19 countries ranked as "very high risk," just two, Nepal and Afghanistan, are located outside of sub-Saharan Africa.

"In rural, remote African communities there is a latent demand for family planning services that demands a persistent investment in resources, education, communication and high-quality services," said Maurice Middleberg, the director of health and population for CARE, an international poverty alleviation group.

Middleberg said "consistent and persistent investment" has increased the use of contraceptives in Uganda, and improved the quality of prenatal health care.

"We have trained community volunteers and health workers ... the consequence is that the use of contraceptives is up," Middleberg said. "It's one of the great success stories."

Cuba is the only developing nation in the report to rank among the 25 "very low risk" countries, providing prenatal care to 100 percent of women, skilled personnel to 99 percent of all births and reporting less than 0.1 percent HIV/AIDS infection in both men and women.

The report comes after US President George W. Bush reimposed an executive order, lifted under Bill Clinton, which prohibits international organizations receiving US funds from providing abortion services.

Illinois Republican lawmaker Mark Kirk has sponsored a bill to overturn the order. He said the goal of his bill is "to enhance the commitment to voluntary family planning services."

"There is proof that as modern, effective contraception becomes available, abortion rates decline, making it a critical women's rights issue," he said.