Maternity care

In the words of Mary Newburn from the National Childbirth Trust: "Women can be emotionally traumatised by a lack of support when they are in labour or coping with a new baby, and can be left needing months of recovery."

This will have struck a chord with many of your readers. But there is also a huge disparity between rich and poor countries in access to decent and safe maternity care. In the Central African country of Niger, for example, there is only one midwife for every 33,500 people, compared to one for every 2,442 people in Britain. There is a clear link between the number of midwives and chances of dying in childbirth. In Niger, women face a one in seven chance of dying during pregnancy or childbirth during the course of their lifetime.

Each year more than half a million women die from complications in pregnancy or childbirth.

Ninety-nine per cent of these deaths occur in developing countries.

Not only must the British Government increase its spending on trained health workers in this country, it must also provide more and better aid for health workers in the world's poorest countries.

• Lisa Rutherford, Oxfam campaigner The Drive, Hove