In pictures: Fighting maternal mortality

"Throughout the region there is a huge disparity between its desolate performance on most indicators of human development on the one hand, and the stunning economic growth and prosperity experienced in several countries on the other," a Unicef report says.

"The fact that these positive developments have failed to trickle down to the poorest sectors of society is due to a host of factors, including religious and cultural practices, political and economic exclusion and gender bias."