The lead­ing cause of death for women is AIDS accord­ing to the World Health Orga­ni­za­tion. AIDS effects women aged 15 to 44 more than any other dis­ease. The WHO also says that 15 per­cent of woman’s deaths are from child­birth complications.

From RedOr­bit, this Asso­ci­ated Press story con­tains the WHO’s statement.

The WHO said that unsafe sex is the lead­ing risk fac­tor in devel­op­ing coun­tries for these women of child­bear­ing age, with oth­ers includ­ing lack of access to con­tra­cep­tives and iron defi­ciency. This was the WHO’s first study of women’s health around the globe.

Accord­ing to the U.N. agency, one in five deaths among women through­out the world in this age group is linked to unsafe sex.

“Women who do not know how to pro­tect them­selves from such infec­tions, or who are unable to do so, face increased risks of death or ill­ness,” the WHO said in a 91-page report. “So do those who can­not pro­tect them­selves from unwanted preg­nancy or con­trol their fer­til­ity because of lack of access to contraception.”

The data was included in a report that high­lights the unequal health treat­ment a female faces from child­birth through infancy car­ry­ing on into old age.

Dr. Mar­garet Chan, WHO’s chief, said that women enjoy a bio­log­i­cal advan­tage because they tend to live six to eight years longer than men. How­ever, she said that through­out the world they suf­fer seri­ous dis­ad­van­tages because of poverty, poorer access to health care and cul­tural norms that put a pri­or­ity on the well being of men.