[Maternal mortality. A necessary revision for its acknowledgement, its medical and social causes and a proposal of actions to be undertaken for its reduction].

Maternal mortality is a portrait not only related to maternal health and to the characteristic of the medical services, but also to the social, cultural and political conditions of a given society. It occurs 120 billons pregnancy every year and almost 600.000 women die because of causes related to pregnancy, delivery or puerperal diseases, 95% of those deaths occur in underdeveloped countries. In Swiss, Finland, Canada and Holland, 4 deaths are registered, while in Somalia and Nigeria 1000 death are reported for each 100.000 alive new baby (NV), Meanwhile, in Latin America and the Caribe, 190 death are reported, almost 23.000 women death every year, which clearly shows a great difference between countries. These differences also occur within a given country, as in Argentina, where the prevalence is 44 for each 100.000 NV, Buenos Aires has 9 while Formosa as 177. We pointed out that nonqualified medical services is a very important fact on the above mentioned maternal death, because of the lack of attention of the sepsis, the hemorrahages, the prolonged delivery work and the eclampsia. But abortion is the most important cause of maternal death. We mentioned the social, educational and sanitary facts of illegal abortion. In developed countries pre eclampsia is the main factor. It is mentioned the strategies of the International Conference "Maternity without Risk" carried out in Nairobi in 1987 and the Task Force Inter Regional Agency for the Reduction of Maternal Mortality. 2004 as a good recommendation to be taken into account in order to diminish maternal mortality. We propose to highlight the use of the Maternal Mortality Committee and the application of the Epidemiological Survey System, in order to diminish maternal mortality and some particular ones for the prevalent pathologies and it is concluded that maternal mortality could diminish not only with better sanitary conditions, but also with equal social conditions, specially in underdeveloped, countries where this situation is a real problem.