The grim picture of women’s health, including maternal mortality and HIV, has many causal factors, and solutions are to be found in multiple sectors. However, many of these solutions are mediated through and require the presence of strong and effective local health systems. This level of care, defined in many countries as the “district health system,” embraces the contin- uum of care reaching from the household/community level up through the first referral facility level, to the district hospital. Despite their central importance in women’s health, local health care systems throughout the developing world are plagued by insufficient funding, under- staffing, inadequate drugs and supplies, poor infrastructure, inaccessibility.
