Professional care at birth can help reduce maternal mor tality. The proportion of women who deliver with the assistance of a skilled health-care provider - doctor , nurse, midwife - is highly correlated with materna mortality ratios. Trends in this indicator during the 1990s suggest that significant progress has been made in developing countries, with an overall increase from 41% to 57% between 1990 and 2003. However , there are important differences across regions, as shown in Figure 6. In sub- Saharan Africa, there was no significant change over the period, with coverage of skilled attendants remaining at around 40% throughout the decade. Similarly, in western Asia, there was also little improvement, with coverage increasing by only.
