Maternal deaths are an outrage

"In the 21st century, no woman should have to give her life to give life."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (Reuters 19 May)

"We must find a way to get maternal mortality recognized as a key indicator of a functioning health system. Let us work together to make sure maternal mortality is a problem of the past and not our children's future."
Sarah Brown (Reuters 19 May)

The justifiable outrage that pregnancy and childbirth continue to kill 529,000 women and leave 1 million children motherless worldwide every year is, naturally, focussed on developing countries where childbirth is far more dangerous than we can imagine.

However, the words of our own Prime Minister's wife and the Secretary-General of the United Nations words at this week's World Health Organisation's annual congress in Geneva are just as applicable to us. Why are our mother's vulnerable to an archiac disease such as childbed fever, which is still one of the most common causes of maternal death?

I feel sure that Jasmine Pickett's and Amy Kimmance's families, amongst others, would join me in asking this. I hope that the Coroner in their Inquests, currently being heard in Winchester, may be able to shed some light on the answer.