Each year, nearly 300,000 women across the globe die during what is normally a happy occasion: giving birth. That’s more than the population of several of the small island states in the Pacific and the Caribbean.

In Tanzania, it is estimated that 23 families a day are robbed of their mothers who die due to complications while giving birth.

These maternal deaths are simply unacceptable, the country’s President, Jakaya Kikwete, told a press conference at the UN on Tuesday.

As a result, Tanzania and its health partners have been scaling up efforts to protect pregnant women and their babies.

Dianne Penn reports.

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