(July 15, 2009) Birth of a Surgeon travels to Mozambique where, for the first time, midwives are being trained in advanced life-saving surgery. Suffering from an acute shortage of doctors, Mozambique's bold grassroots initiatives have cut the maternal death rate in half.

WIDE ANGLE explores the often misunderstood role of midwives in the U.S. We learn about who they are, what they do and where they practice.

WIDE ANGLE sat down with public health experts to discuss the causes of maternal death and the progress of mid-level, surgical clinicians who dot across Mozambique and the rest of the world.