A policy promoting "cross-border" health programs could contribute to reducing maternal and child mortality in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan, says an international team of health experts in this week's PLoS Medicine.

Maternal death rates have remained constant in the United States for many decades. Are there any improvements in health care that could reduce these rates further? In a study published in the July 2008 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, researchers examined all maternal deaths in nearly 1.5 million birth records from the last 6 years to look for possible keys to saving more mothers.

A study published in PLoS Medicine this week suggests that of women who die during pregnancy and childbirth in sub-Saharan Africa, more may die from treatable infectious diseases than from conditions directly linked to pregnancy.

A global study finds that abortion rates are about the same in countries where it is legal and where it is outlawed. The World Health Organization study also says the number of abortions has dropped worldwide due to more use of birth control and better family planning.

A new report sponsored by the United Nations and the World Bank says progress has been slow at reducing the number of deaths worldwide from pregnancy and childbirth. The report says more than one-half million women a year continue to die from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. It says 99 percent of these deaths occur in developing countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Teaching doctors in Africa a low-tech operation to cut the cartilage of the symphysis pubis could save the lives of women in obstructed labor and their babies, according to an Essay in the open access journal PLoS Medicine.