Maternal mortality

It's hard to believe that only 60 years ago in the UK, 1 in every 1,000 women didn't survive pregnancy.

Nowadays, free public health for all means this is a rare tragedy.

But in the poorest countries, having a baby remains a gamble with life.

In 2000 world leaders promised to reduce the number of mothers dying in poor countries by three quarters by 2015. We have seen virtually no progress towards this goal. And in some countries the situation is getting even worse.

What we're calling for

Every woman has the right to a secure and healthy pregnancy. World leaders must act now to get back on track and deliver on their promises.

More money for health workers

700,000 more midwives are needed globally. When a trained midwife is in attendance, a woman's chances of surviving childbirth dramatically increase.

Midwives create a clean environment for the delivery and deal with complications during birth. Midwives must be supported with decent, well-equipped hospitals nearby for emergency care.

Free health care

User fees plunge 100 million people into poverty each year. Women are the least able to pay for care, or the 'extras' such as medicines, so they are forced to give birth in their homes without any help from a trained health professional.

Developing country governments must provide free health care for all pregnant women. Health care must be provided free of charge and rich country donors must ensure they do not fail because of lack of funds. Rich country donors must support them to do so.

Public not private

Across all developing countries it is government health care and not the private sector which has been more successful in providing pregnant women with the health care they need.

Donors must stop pushing unproven and risky private sector solutions, and should invest in public health services that work.

Women's rights

In some countries, discrimination and injustice can mean that women can't always choose the terms of their own health care, and women are often the last to seek medical attention when cost is involved.

Alongside better hospitals and midwives, the status of women must improve. Women must have access to family planning and education so that they can choose when to have children.

Where promises have been delivered

The medical answers are there, and some poor countries have already made dramatic progress. Sri Lanka, Egypt, Thailand and Honduras all took less than 10 years to dramatically improve women's chances of surviving pregnancy.

In Nepal the number of women dying from pregnancy has fallen dramatically.

How? By the government and aid donors investing in and improving access to sex education and family planning, through legalising abortion, and through providing health services for the poorest people free of charge.

The result?

• The percentage of deliveries attended by a midwife or doctor has risen from 9 to 19 per cent
• 600,000 more women are now able to give birth in a health facility

Push for action

We are not asking for anything new. In 2000, world leaders agreed on the Millennium Development Goals - eight ambitious but realistic targets for reducing global poverty.

Maternal health is the worst performing of all the goals. World leaders must restore public trust and honour their commitments by acting now to save mother's lives.