The idea of preparing for death makes sense, says Giles Fraser. In a society that fears dying it has taken a reality TV celebrity to remind us of what is truly important in negotiating mortality.

This Mother’s Day, the Methodist Relief and Development Fund (MRDF) is highlighting the fact that over one thousand women worldwide die in childbirth every day.

A Bolivian NGO backed by church and other development groups has almost totally eradicated death-in-childbirth and significantly diminished infant mortality in one of the poorest regions of the country.

Africa will miss key targets for reducing poverty by more than 100 years, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer has said.