India: Death in Childbirth Needless

From BBC News:

Tens of thousands of women die in India during pregnancy or childbirth or soon after giving birth, a new report says.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) report says the deaths occur despite government programmes guaranteeing free maternal health care.

The focus of the study is on Uttar Pradesh - India's most populous northern state - where a large number of women die from "preventable causes".

The state is among the most backward in India with abysmal health care systems.

The 150-page report - No Tally of the Anguish: Accountability in Maternal Health Care in India - documents repeated failures both in providing health care to pregnant women in Uttar Pradesh and in taking steps to identify and address gaps in care, HRW said in a press release.

The state has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in India, but government surveys show it is not alone in struggling with these problems, including a failure even to record how many women are dying.