It is often said the health of a nation can be measured by its women. Yet one woman dies in childbirth every minute.Half a million women die in childbirth each year, entirely unnecessarily - nearly all of these deaths could be prevented if the women had access to a skilled birth attendant.

Rates of maternal mortality are directly associated with attendance of skilled birth attendants. Countries with the lowest maternal mortality report over 98% attendance by a skilled birth attendant. Those with the highest rates of maternal mortality report less than 60% attendance.
Lack of access to essential health care services (especially for pregnant adolescents) for safe pregnancy and childbirth is the single most important factor that contributes to maternal deaths. This is exacerbated by poverty and illiteracy, inequalities in the human rights enjoyed by women and men, marriage at a young age and unwanted fertility.

Deaths in newborns during the first week of life are largely the result of inadequate, or inappropriate, care during pregnancy, childbirth, or the first critical hours after birth. Violence against women (including rape) is also considered an underlying and predisposing factor for maternal ill-health.

So this is the time for number of countries especially developing countries to prepare enough birth attendants so that they can provide care from home to hospital or birth center.