One of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that has made some progress, albeit slow, is MDG 5: Improve maternal health. The two targets for assessing MDG 5 are reducing the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) by three quarters between 1990 and 2015, and achieving universal access to reproductive health by 2015. The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General has launched the Global strategy for women’s and children’s health, to mobilize commitments by governments, civil society organizations and development partners to accelerate progress towards MDGs 4 and 5 (1). Subsequently, the high-level Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health was established to “determine the most effective international institutional.
