Due to poverty, the vast majority of women die from or are seriously injured by maternity-related causes which are in the prime or their lives, their illnesses and deaths have serious social and economic consequences for their families and their communities and impacted to the right to life.

Newborns whose mothers die are less likely to survive. Surviving children are less likely to attend school regularly as they often must drop out to meet household needs. Additionally, since maternal deaths affect women in their most productive years, these deaths can have a deep impact on the local and national economies.

Women are most in need of skilled care during delivery and the immediate postpartum period, when roughly three-fourths of all maternal deaths occur. Providing skilled care means ensuring that health professionals can manage normal deliveries and treat life-threatening complications of pregnancy and childbirth.