The inaccessibility and utilization of antenatal health-care services in Balkh Province of Afghanistan

More than 500,000 maternal deaths occur worldwide every year, of which a quarter to a third of all deaths is the result of pregnancy-related complications (WHO, 2000). The regional variation in reproductive health outcome is also very wide as about 99 per cent of maternal deaths occur in developing countries. A woman living in Africa faces 200 times greater risk of dying from complications related to pregnancy than a woman living in an industrialized country (WHO, 2000).