 This initiative has widespread support from African leaders and was started in conjunction with the African Union Health Ministers.Improving maternal health is the fifth of the United Nations' eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), targeting a reduction in the number of women dying during pregnancy and childbirth by three quarters by 2015, notably by increasing the usage of skilled birth attendants, contraception and family planning.The current decline of maternal deaths is only half of what is necessary to achieve this goal, and in several regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa the maternal mortality rate is actually increasing.