Improving the health and nutrition of mothers-to-be and providing quality reproductive health services are pivotal to addressing many underlying causes of child mortality.

Poor nutrition in women can result in preterm births and babies with low weight at birth. Visits to, or from, a trained health-care provider during pregnancy can help avert early deliveries and neonatal tetanus, which is almost always fatal.

A skilled attendant present at delivery, backed by emergency obstetric care, decreases the risk of a woman dying in childbirth and can help prevent and treat infections and complications.