The way forward.

Improving maternal health and reducing maternal morbidity and mortality into the future will require a range of health-related and non-health-related strategies. The latter include education for women, better communication, access to transport and technology and cultural change. The role of obstetric medicine practice, research and education in achieving these objectives is discussed in this article. We need to recognise that it will require improvements in health provision and access to achieve our goal of safer childbirth for women and babies throughout the world.