Yet low-cost interventions are available to prevent or treat them. Other key factors in this success have included an increase in education levels among women, investment of adequate resources and the widespread use of case management guidelines. Every year, more than half a million worldwide die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth - mainly severe bleeding, infections, unsafe abortions, hypertension and obstructed labour. And most of them could be prevented at low cost. In that country, where a third of the population is estimated to live below the poverty line, maternal mortality rates are among the lowest in the developing world.
Most deliveries take place in a health facility, with the support of a skilled birth attendant.
This achievement is the result of government commitment to improving education and health in Sri Lanka, the relatively high status of women, and high female literacy rates.