The Emergency Obstetric Care Handbook is the revised version of the former "Guidelines for assessing the availability, use and quality of obstetric services published jointly in 1997 by UNICEF, UNFPA, WHO and AMDD (the Averting Maternal Death and Disability programme of Columbia University). Access to emergency obstetric care (EmOC) for all pregnant women with complications is one of the 3 pillars of the reduction of maternal mortality, the fifth MDG. Kindly note that the preliminary French version of the Handbook is also linked here, and a final version will be posted as soon as available.