The Guardian: Save the mothers
7 APRIL 2009
Pop stars trying to adopt orphans obscures a tragic reality: Africa's huge maternal death toll
7 APRIL 2009 | LONDON UK - Mariam Ali, 17, was already in a coma when she arrived in the back of a truck at the General Reference hospital in N'Djamena, the capital of Chad. Eight months pregnant, she had been experiencing fits brought on by high blood pressure. It had taken her mother three days to get her from their rural village 80km away to the hospital - but it was too late. Mariam died a few days later, along with her baby.