In Sierra Leone, medical care for pregnant women and babies is free in most cases, as are contraceptives. Deaths in pregnancy and childbirth have fallen by 74% since 2000, according to United Nations figures.
More than 90 per cent of pregnant women in Sierra Leone now receive antenatal care, and the vast majority are assisted during childbirth by a qualified midwife, nurse or doctor. Health facilities are beginning to address cervical cancer, a gruesome disease that kills more people worldwide than maternal mortality, but is given far less attention.