Watch testimonials of midwives from developing countries talking about the challenges they face in their daily life-saving work.

An excerpt from Article 1, read on 9 July 2011 with photos courtesy of Barbara Davidson/LA Times.  Many challenges lie ahead in South Sudan. One of the poorest countries in the world, its maternal mortality rate is the highest on the planet. UNFPA is helping to train midwives across the country to ensure safe births.

Watch testimonials of midwives from developing countries talking about the challenges they face in their daily life-saving work.

This story features women who share a determination to not be victims of violence forever.

UNFPA puts every effort into breaking the silence and ensuring that the voices of women are heard. One strategy is to engage men - policy makers, parents and young boys in discourse about the dynamics and consequences of violence.

In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, it is believed that as many as one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or abused in some way - most often by someone she knows, including her husband or another male family member.

Watch testimonials of midwives from developing countries talking about the challenges they face in their daily life-saving work.

Watch testimonials of midwives from developing countries talking about the challenges they face in their daily life-saving work.

Gender-based violence is a serious problem globally. In Vietnam, according to the National Study on Domestic Violence against Women, 1 in 3 or 34% of ever-married women report at one time they suffered physical or sexual violence from their husbands.