International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

A campaign has been launched by Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) Rwanda that hopes to reduce maternal mortality.

GCAP Rwanda has been praised by Egidia Rukundo, gender cluster coordinator in the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion.

She called upon stakeholders to mobilise and motivate the country to put a stop to maternal deaths.

Rukundo said: "I hope this campaign will take a big step towards ending maternal mortality rates in the country."

At the launch of the campaign, communications coordinator for Africa Sylvia Mudasia Mwiculi said maternal mortality in Africa is a great challenge.

GCAP is an advocacy and campaign group that was established to accelerate achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MGC).

This week, pregnant women in developing countries used International Women's Day to call for greater investment in maternal health.

According to a coalition of campaign groups, hundreds of thousands of pregnant women in developing countries are at as great a risk of dying in childbirth as women in the UK were a century ago.