Sierra Leone has managed to reduce the number of women who die during and after childbirth by half in the last 2 years.
But the maternal mortality figures are still too high, and the government has called it a ‘national emergency’.
A new maternity centre is being built in the east of the country as part of the drive to improve the medical care of women and the training of midwives.
And it’s being built mostly by women.
Alan Kasujja hears from workers Bintu Missah and Hawa Baryoh and midwife Isata Dumbuya about the significance of this new Maternal Centre of Excellence.