The World Health Organisation undertook to evaluate the cost, efficacy and risk of modern birth technologies through a series of consensus meetings. These meetings were designed to bring a scientific and multidisciplinary approach to the task of identifying the best ways of ensuring the safest outcomes for women and babies during pregnancy, birth and afterwards. The format of the book mirrors the format of the meetings. Following the first three chapters which define the issues and historical context, chapter four describes how the meetings were set up, and chapters five to seven focus on the content of the conferences including scientific review papers and discussions leading to the final consensus recommendations. The author was convenor of the meetings in North America, South America and Europe.