Eritrea is a vast country with many remote villages. Without transport, a pregnant women may have to walk 30 kilometres to give birth safely at a health facility. This is why UNFPA, in partnership with the Government of Eritrea, has built 41 maternity waiting homes across the country to ensure that when women are ready to deliver, they are already close to a health facility. The homes provide them with access to medical care when they need it and ensure them of a place to stay prior to their delivery.

Eritrea is one of the few African countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of reducing maternal mortality by 45 per cent. Now the government aims to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of fewer than 70 preventable maternal deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030.