Around the world 50 million births a year happen without a skilled birth attendant present, and between one and two thirds of all maternal deaths happen at home.

A woman in Rwanda has a one in 35 chance of dying in childbirth, compared with a one in 4,700 chance in the UK.

One Rwandan mother, Febronie, was able to give birth to a healthy baby boy, thanks to a new text messaging service run by the Rwandan ministry of health, and supported by UK aid called RapidSMS.

The system gave her local health worker Helene the opportunity to quickly contact doctors and nurses at health centres that are often miles away, getting responses almost immediately. Using codes such as FE for fever, UN for unconscious and HE for haemorrhaging, the health worker can get rapid advice or support.

As soon as she saw the pain Febronie was in, Helene sent a message: “High Risk”, and almost immediately received the response “ambulance on its way”. Minutes later the ambulance arrived and whisked Febronie to a health centre where she gave birth to Eric in a clean maternity room, supported by the care of a nurse and with the aftercare needed for both mother and baby.

As part of new plans for the UK to double the number of lives saved in pregnancy and childbirth in the world’s poorest countries by 2015, UK aid will help over 5,000 more women in Rwanda to give birth in the safety of a health centre.