On the occasion of International Women's Day, Amnesty International, Save the Children, Mumsnet, White Ribbon Alliance and Oxfam have joined hands and urged leaders all around the world to make efforts and emphasize more on pregnant women.

As the International Women's Day enters its 100th year, the coalition of the five organizations revealed that the risks that pregnant women are exposed to in developing countries have not dropped in the last 100 years, as some might think.

Having their voices heard on Women's Day, the campaign groups called for world leaders to act on the cause of reducing deaths among pregnant women, pointing that “improving mothers' health is ‘the most off-target’ of the UN's eight Millennium Development Goals”.

Brigid McConville, Director of White Ribbon Alliance, said, “There still remains a long way to go for the protection and security of pregnant women and their newborn children”.

Statistics reveal the sorry figure in developing countries, where for every 100,000 live births, 450 women die in labor or during pregnancy.

Kate Allen, UK director of Amnesty International, said, “It's clearly been possible to cut back on the rate of maternal deaths here in the UK. We need to demonstrate that same level of commitment worldwide”.