Background

Building on the commitments in the Programme of Action of the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the 1999 Key Actions for the ICPD and the Millennium Declaration, the international community is striving to achieve Millennium Development Goal 5 with its two targets:

• reduce the maternal death ratio by three quarters between 1990-2015, and
• achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015.

The maternal health goal has made the least progress among all of the MDGs. Complications of pregnancy and childbirth remain the leading killer of women in the developing world; and access to reproductive health information and services remains an illusion for many, especially women and young people

http://www.unfpa.org/public/News/events/pid/2396

Five fact sheets on maternal health and UNFPA prepeard for the meeting:
When pregnancy kills, Contraceptives safe lives, Delivering hope and saving lives, Providing emergency obstetric care, MD5 Improve Maternal Health – http://www.unfpa.org/safemotherhood/mediakit/