Sir, As we celebrate International Women’s Day tomorrow it is important to remember that millions of women around the world are still being denied a fundamental human right: the right to have a child without being forced to gamble unnecessarily with their lives.

One woman will die every minute in pregnancy or childbirth; that’s more than half a million each year. In the developing world, this remains the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age. But a vast majority of these lives could be saved if only mothers in poor communities had access to the basic healthcare that we take for granted: hospitals, medicines, doctors and midwives.

This situation is deplorable. Many of us, through our work with Oxfam, have visited developing countries and witnessed the incredible challenges that pregnant women face. And yet, where even a comparatively small investment is made in free, accessible public healthcare systems, the numbers of women dying in pregnancy and childbirth can be dramatically reduced. Just one extra midwife will save the lives of more than 200 mothers.

As the global economic crisis deepens, the need for action becomes ever more urgent. Faced with the prospect of receiving less aid, poor governments may be forced to cut back their public spending on vital projects such as healthcare, education and social protection: the very programmes that people living in poverty need most in times of crisis. Without them, millions of people won’t be able to meet their basic needs, and women and children will suffer most as they take over responsibility for providing the resources and services that their governments cannot.

It is more important than ever that we maintain pressure on rich governments such as our own to keep the promises to increase aid and to give more to help poor country governments to provide the basic public services their people need.

Women across the world deserve nothing less.

Annie Lennox, Angelique Kidjo, Beverley Knight, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Dido, Emily Eavis, Joanna Lumley, Mariella Frostrup, Meera Syal, Oumou Sangare, Ruby Wax, Vanessa Branson, Zoë Ball, Dame Barbara Stocking

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