Progress for Children A Report Card on Maternal Mortality

Millennium Development Goal 5 is to improve maternal health, and its bold target is to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters between 1990 and 2015. Still, each year more than half a million women die from pregnancy-related causes that are avoidable. At the present rate of progress, the world will fall well short of the MDG 5 target. This report details progress in maternal health and highlights areas where improvements are needed.