A paper commissioned by MacArthur outlines the history of the maternal health field from 1985, when the first maternal mortality estimates were published by the World Health Organization, to recent advances and milestones in the field. The paper states that the health of the mother during pregnancy and childbirth was not a focus for policymaking, research, and programming until 1985, when a series of seminal papers called attention to the neglected issue. Literature on the topic of maternal health has never before documented the trajectory of the field. The paper is accompanied by timelines listing major initiative, policy, and research events, as well as commodities, technologies, and clinical discoveries that had major impact on the field.
