Speaking to the House of Commons International Development Committee, Stewart Tyson had high praise for the Options-managed Nepal Support to Safe Motherhood Programme and its predecessor, the Nepal Safer Motherhood Project:

'Nepal has had ten years of conflict and yet the (Options-managed Support for Safe Motherhood) programme worked all the way through that period. The focus of the maternal health programme was the Maoist area in the far west of Nepal. I was there last week. Throughout that time both sides valued the services that were being delivered and that enabled them to carry on. That has been a testament to good practice.'

Stewart Tyson, Head of Profession, Health, Human Development Group at the UK Department for International Development, 18th December 2007, during a presentation of evidence on maternal health at the House of Commons International Development Committee.

The House of Commons International Development Committee has been conducting a maternal health inquiry, investigating how donors and DFID specifically can catalyse progress towards Millennium Development Goal 5. This session focused directly on assessing DFID's overall strategy for improving maternal health and exploring key challenges and opportunities within DFID's approach.

To read more about Options' work in Nepal to improve maternal health, please see two recently published articles in Reproductive Health Matters, "Improving Emergency Obstetric Care in a Context of Very High Maternal Mortality: The Nepal Safe Motherhood Project, 1997-2004", and "Support to the Safe Motherhood Programme in Nepal: An Integrated Approach".