UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon highlighted on Wednesday the significance of men's care for maternal health and their support for women's sexual and reproductive health rights. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

    UNITED NATIONS, July 11 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon highlighted on Wednesday the significance of men's care for maternal health and their support for women's sexual and reproductive health rights.

    "As partners for maternal health, men can save lives," Ban said in a message marking this year's World Population Day.

    In case of immediate medical care, the support of an informed husband, who often makes decisions about family planning and the use of household resources, improves pregnancy and childbirth outcomes and can mean the difference between life and death in cases of complications, Ban said.

    More than half a million women die each year during pregnancy and childbirth, 99 percent of them in developing countries. Many more suffer serious complications that can have a severe impact on the quality of life for women and their families, he noted.

    However, "almost all of this death and suffering is preventable," the UN chief said.

    Despite the progress in terms of reducing maternal death rates in several countries over the past decade, much more needs to be done to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of improving maternal health around the world by 2015, he said.

    "Partnering with men is an important strategy for advancing reproductive health and rights," Ban stressed.

    "Gender equality, another Millennium Development Goal, is most likely to be achieved when men recognize that the lives of men and women are interdependent and that the empowerment of women benefits everyone," he said.

    The UN Population Fund decided in 1990 to mark World Population Day on July 11 each year in an effort to raise the international community's awareness of the population issue.

    The theme of this year's World Population Day -- men as partners for maternal health -- focuses attention on the fundamental role of men in supporting women's rights, including their right to sexual and reproductive health.