One of the more depressing pieces of news to come out of the Women Deliver Conference in London last month (if you haven't already, be sure to watch these videos from the conference) came from the WHO: maternal death rates, according to the Millennium Goal # 5 are falling much more slowly than anticipated and at this rate will not meet the

//www.un.org/millenniumgoals/">Millennium Development goals

The world’s maternal mortality ratio (the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births) is declining too slowly to meet Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5, which aims to reduce the number of women who die in pregnancy and childbirth by three-quarters by 2015.

While an annual decline of 5.5% in maternal mortality ratios between 1990 and 2015 is required to achieve MDG 5, figures released today by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and the World Bank show an annual decline of less than 1%. In 2005, 536 000 women died of maternal causes, compared to 576 000 in 1990. 99% of these deaths occurred in developing countries.

The maternal mortality ratio in 2005 was highest in developing regions, with 450 maternal deaths per 100 000 live births, in stark contrast to nine in developed regions and 51 in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Moreover, the small drop in the global maternal mortality ratio reflects mainly the declines that have taken place in countries with relatively low levels of maternal mortality. Countries with the highest initial levels of mortality have made virtually no progress over the past 15 years.

The new maternal mortality estimates show that while gains are being made in middle-income countries, the annual decline between 1990 and 2005 in sub-Saharan Africa was only 0.1%. No region achieved the necessary 5.5% annual decline during the same period, although Eastern Asia came closest to the target with a 4.2% annual decline and Northern Africa, South-Eastern Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean experienced relatively faster declines than sub-Saharan Africa.

Slightly more than one half of the maternal deaths (270 000) occurred in the sub-Saharan Africa region, followed by South Asia (188 000). Together, these two regions accounted for 86% of the world’s maternal deaths in 2005.

Eleven countries accounted for almost 65% of global maternal deaths in 2005. India had the largest number (117 000), followed by Nigeria (59 000), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (32 000) and Afghanistan (26 000).

The probability that a 15-year-old girl will die from a complication related to pregnancy and childbirth during her lifetime is highest in Africa: 1 in 26. In the developed regions it is 1 in 7300. Of all 171 countries and territories for which estimates were made, Niger had the highest estimated lifetime risk of 1 in 7.

All of this is even more evidence that what we are doing as a group with BlogHers Act is so critical. And read this INCREDIBLE post from One Plus Two (it's a few months old, but absolutely heart stopping) about what is happening to mothers and newborns in this country, too, right now. BlogHers Act for Maternal Health matters, big time.