Women in Kenya are 50 times more likely to die in childbirth than in the UK.

The Lancet has published Maternal Mortality Rates for 181 countries (1).

The Guardian has also published the maternal mortality rate table in its blog.

Looking down the table with our particular interest in Kenya it looks like they have made some progress in reducing the rate in the last 20 years but very little. Even though some of the discussion in the last few days has been on why the UK has not improved or why it is "worse" than Albania it is sobering to think that women in Kenya are 50 times more likely to due during or after childbirth than women in the UK.

1. Hogan MC, Foreman KJ, Naghavi M, Ahn SY, Wang M, Makela SM, et al. Maternal mortality for 181 countries, 1980-2008: a systematic analysis of progress towards Millennium Development Goal 5. Lancet. 2010 Apr 9