Maternal Health should prioritize human and financial resources to enabling women to be safe in pregnancy, childbirth, and the post-partum period. Every minute somewhere in the world a woman dies in childbirth – the vast majority of them in the global south. And tragically, almost every one of these deaths could be prevented. When a woman dies, the ramifications are enormous. Entire families and communities suffer through the personal, social, and economic losses brought by her death.

Improving maternal health is a complex challenge. And while there are no simple solutions, research and experience show us that change is possible and achievable. Key steps include improving antenatal care, establishing caesarean section services and hiring skilled health workers particularly in remote areas, reducing the costs women must pay for maternity care, and improving transport to facilities.

The biggest challenge to reducing maternal death and disability, however, is the most difficult one to solve. It requires garnering the political commitment, and financial and human resources, to assure women’s right to have access to safe health care before, during and after childbirth.