In pictures: Fighting maternal mortality

In the region if a woman does not survive the often long and perilous journey to hospital, there is every chance there will be no doctor, nurse or anaesthetist on duty to help her, nor any drug or blood supplies available with which to treat her. "And if there are - payment for these services may be well beyond the means of the women and her family," says Ms Grusovin.

Here Nagibullah, father of seven children, waits for his wife to deliver in Kabul.