Before the promulgation of the new penal code and subsequent issuance of the technical
and procedural guideline (TPG), maternal mortality rates in Ethiopia were among the
highest in the world. The graph below shows the dramatic decline in maternal mortality
of Ethiopia from close to 1000 per 100,000 live births (LB) to 267 per 100,000 LB in a time
span of 20 years and more importantly after 2005.