Maternal health is very important and impacts not only the mother and child but the whole family. To highlight that importance, the United Nations put maternal health in its 8 millennium development goals, which focuses on proper care during pregnancy and delivery.
The number of women dying while giving birth has been greatly reduced in Rwanda, mostly thanks to the increased number of women giving birth in a health-care facility attended by a qualified health care professional. According to a report by the ministry of health, there has been an increase in the proportion of such births, with 69% of mothers being cared for by a skilled health-care worker during delivery in 2010, compared to 31% in 2000.