SOUTH Swindon MP Julia Drown is at the centre of a renewed push to save thousands of lives across Africa.

The former NHS manager is leading two committees of MPs looking at ways of cutting death rates among pregnant women and slashing poverty.

She is chairwoman of the all-party parliamentary committee on heavily indebted poor countries and of the Commons maternity sub-committee. This week, for the first time, she brought the two roles together and held a joint meeting.

Ms Drown said the group would collect evidence from experts and aim to turn it into realistic solutions. "Reducing the number of women who die during childbirth is something we must achieve," she said.

"Tens of thousands of people are suffering unnecessarily and we should do what we can to stop it."