mortality in Peru are scandalous . The fact that so many women are dying from preventable causes is a human rights violation . `` The Peruvian state is simply ignoring its obligation to provide adequate maternal health care to all women , regardless of who they are and where they live . '' Garcia added : `` Health services for pregnant women in Peru are like a lottery : If you are poor and indigenous , the chances are you will always lose . '' The report said pregnant women in Peru die because they lack access to emergency obstetric care , to information on maternal health , and to health staff members who can speak Indigenous languages such as Quechua -- a native Andean language spoken by some 5 million people in Peru . According to the report , 27 percent of deaths of women from pregnancy-related causes occurred during pregnancy ; 26 percent occurred during the birth itself ; and 46 percent during the first six weeks after giving birth . A 2007 Census of Indigenous People showed that 60 percent did not have access to a health facility , said Amnesty International . The Amnesty International report
LONDON , England -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Pregnant women in Peru are dying at scandalous rates , according to the author of an Amnesty International report into maternal mortality in the South American country . The report , `` Fatal Flaws : Barriers to Maternal Health in Peru '' found that hundreds of poor , rural and indigenous pregnant women are dying because they are being denied the same health services as other women in the country . It also concluded that the government 's response to tackling the problem was inadequate . Peruvian government figures state 185 in every 100,000 women die in childbirth , but the United Nations says the number is much higher , 240 per 100,000 , which makes it one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the Americas . In wealthy developed nations , only nine women die for every 100,000 births . The five main causes of pregnancy-related deaths in Peru are hemorrhage , pre-eclampsia , infection , complications following abortion and obstructed birth , according to Peru 's Ministry of Health figures . Amnesty 's Peru researcher Nuria Garcia said , in a written statement : `` The rates of maternal