The World Health Organisation's South East Asia regional office has developed a set of standards for midwifery practices as a means to bring down the high level of risk of mortality and morbidity that women in the region faced during pregnancy and at the same time of delivery. It is estimated that at present a woman in Asia had a one in 65 chance of dying from a pregnacy or delivery in her life time, with the level of risk in India, in particular, being even higher than the regional average, at one in 37.