Skilled care at delivery is one of the key elements necessary to reduce maternal mortality. Though all regions show improvement, only 46 per cent of deliveries in sub-Saharan Africa, where almost half the world's maternal deaths occur, are assisted by skilled attendants. In Southern Asia, the proportion is even lower. Eastern and South-Eastern Asia and Northern Africa have made the most headway, with increases in attended births of between 55 and almost 80 per cent.