Nurses in the Hello Kitty-designed maternity ward, at the Hau Sheng hospital, checks on the newborns, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009, in the southern Taiwan city of Chunghua. Hau Sheng Hospital, located 95 miles (150 kilometers) south of Taipei, is the latest destination for the cute feline with the penchant for pink, reflecting its owner's belief that mothers and their newborns will be soothed by the well-known Hello Kitty ambiance. (AP Photo/) (Wally Santana/AP)

Half as many women die during pregnancy, childbirth as in 1990

5:17 pm ET -

Worldwide, maternal mortality has been cut in half in the past 20 years, says a new UN-World Bank report. India and Nigeria accounted for about one-third of the 287,000 deaths in 2010 attributed to problems during pregnancy or childbirth.

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