Stepping up Efforts to Save Mothers' Lives Every day, almost 800
women die in pregnancy or childbirth. Every two minutes, the
loss of a mother shatters a family and threatens the well-being
of surviving children. Evidence shows that infants whose mothers
die are more likely to die before reaching their second birthday
than infants whose mothers survive. And for every woman who
dies, 20 or more experience serious complications. Of the
hundreds of thousands of women who die during pregnancy or
childbirth each year, 90 per cent live in Africa and Asia. The
majority of women are dying from severe bleeding, infections,
eclampsia, obstructed labour and the consequences of unsafe
abortions--all causes for which we have highly effective
interventions. Working for the survival of mothers is a human
rights imperative. It also has enormous socio-economic
ramifications – and is a crucial international development
priority. Both the International Conference on Population and
Development and Millennium Development Goals ca