Education is key to supporting women in South Sudan | Peter Moszynski | Global development | guardian.co.uk

Education is key to supporting women in South Sudan | Peter Moszynski | Global development | guardian.co.uk:

Young girls in a street of Juba, the capital of South Sudan. Photograph: Mark Tran/guardian.co.uk

The decision of the UK's Department for International Development (DfID) to suspend investment in teacher training in South Sudan risks undermining one of the key measures that could alleviate the situation for women in a country that has some of the world's worst developmental indicators.

The new nation has the world's highest maternal mortality rate (2,054 per 100,000 live births) and lowest female literacy rates, meaning girls are statistically more likely to die of pregnancy-related causes than complete primary education.