Maternal Health: Stepping up Efforts to Save Mothers' Lives

Every day, almost 800 women die due to pregnancy or childbirth complications. Ninety per cent of maternal deaths take place in Africa and Asia; the risk of a woman dying from maternal causes in sub-Saharan Africa is 1 in 39, accounting for 56% of the global maternal deaths1 . The loss of mothers shatters families and threatens the well-being of more than one million surviving children every year.