In pictures: Fighting maternal mortality

The experience of Kalama, a 26-year-old Nepalese woman, is typical of many. She was brought to Panchthar District Hospital with labour complications. The hospital is a three-hour walk from her village, so she had to be carried on a stretcher.

She was admitted with full dilation of the cervix. The labour was prolonged, and she did not have the energy to synchronise her efforts with contractions during labour. The baby had to be vacuum delivered, but had been asphyxiated and died.