Safer Muslim motherhood: Social conditions and maternal mortality in the Muslim world.

The greatest variation in maternal mortality is among poor countries and wealthy countries that rely on emergency obstetric technology to save a woman's life during childbirth. However, substantial variation in maternal mortality ratios (MMRs) exists within and among poor countries with uneven access to advanced obstetric services. This article examines MMRs across the Muslim world and compares the impact of national wealth, female education, and skilled birth attendants on maternal mortality. Understanding how poor countries have lowered MMRs without access to expensive obstetric technologies suggests that certain social variables may act protectively to reduce the maternal risk for life-threatening obstetric complications that would require emergency obstetric care.