Increased availability of maternal health services and facilities in Dang is saving the lives of a large number of mothers and their newborns, according to the UNICEF. Last year alone, the health-care centres in the district were able to treat 344 life-threatening complications, said Cecilia Lotse, UNICEF regional director for South Asia, who is visiting the region.

Nearly 30,000 Nepali children die yearly in their first month of life, the third highest rate in the world. Children, and mothers, die because they do not receive skilled care during delivery from doctors, nurses and midwives and because they do not receive emergency care when they develop life-threatening complications. Most women in Dang deliver babies at home so saving the lives of mothers and newborns will require promoting deliveries in institutions, with the help of skilled birth attendants and changes in attitudes, says UNICEF.