This blog entry was originally published at ONE Blog.

While girls and boys are largely treated equally early in childhood, disparities in health care, education, and knowledge widen in adolescence.

As a North Carolinian and an American, I have always had access to the contraception I needed throughout my life. I have used condoms, diaphragms, spermicides, pills, and the intrauterine device (IUD).

The Obama administration's Global Health Initiative has taken the bold step of putting the principle of "women, girls, and gender equality" at the top of the list.

My parents survived the Holocaust; they were Jewish children who spent the war in hiding in France. After the war, they received CARE packages from America. The Marshall Plan helped rebuild France. I once asked my mother what this meant to her. She said, “After all we had been through, it reminded me that there were still good people in the world.”

When we talk about the “health workforce crisis” or “human resources for health,” this abstract language can obscure the suffering of people in need.

Entering a one-room health clinic in Cambodia’s Pursat Province, I saw a heavily pregnant woman suffering on the dirt floor. A midwife was the lone health worker staffing this rural post.

I’m really pleased to hear discussion here in Delhi at the Global Maternal Health Conference about our collective accountability. For the past several decades, we have lamented the fact that half a million women’s lives were lost every year to pregnancy-related causes.

Kevin Carter’s most famous photograph is almost impossible to witness without taking a moment to collect yourself afterwards.