International report reassesses ways to cut maternal mortality

A study issued recently by the World Health Organisation, the United Nations Population Fund, Unicef (the United Nations Children's Fund), and the World Bank questions a number of long held beliefs about maternal mortality.

Assessing 10 years of work in the field, the report (Reduction of Maternal Mortality) insists that “vertical, stand-alone” measures cannot alone effectively reduce the near 600 000 annual deaths caused by …