ABSTRACT
The lifetime health impact of the early years is profound - even from the moment of conception. A fetus's intrauterine environment affects the risk of coronary heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, stroke and cancer, years later in adulthood. The World Health Organization defines a maternal death as the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes. Globally, there has been a huge decline in maternal mortality over recent years, with rates dropping by almost 50" worldwide over nearly two and a half decades since 1990. Addressing the direct and indirect causes of maternal illness and death opens up the opportunity to reduce mortality of mothers and newborns. The rates of infant mortality and of deaths of children under five years of age are important indicators of a population's overall health status.
