The 2013 Millennium Development Goals report indicates that progress towards achieving the goal of reducing maternal mortality by two thirds between 1990 and 2015 are significantly below the target and that the indices are still poor in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (United Nations, 2013). The People's Health Movement (PHM), through its WHO Watch, clearly identifies the huge omission of traditional birth attendants (TBAs) in the revised WHO strategy on traditional medicine (PHM WHO Watch, 2013). The magnitude of this omission seems disconcerting given that just thirty years ago, WHO aimed to reduce reproductive-related deaths of women through the training of traditional birth attendants and encouraged their integration into the health system orthodox. WHO calls for a collaborative effort to achieve the goal of reducing maternal deaths. However, it can be insinuated that traditional birth attendants are no longer considered a resource to be exploited by public health professionals to resolve problems associated with reproduction (Langwick, 2011). The “friend or foe” mentality can be clearly seen in a statement made by one of Nigeria's top leaders in the fight to reduce maternal mortality, published in Nigeria's leading editorial daily, The Punch. He said that "it was no longer acceptable for women to give birth in traditional birth centers, traditional birth attendants were no longer needed during labor and delivery due to the availability of a number sufficient trained or qualified personnel, and he promised to imprison any traditional birth attendant involved in a maternal death. » (Punch, 2013). It is therefore important for us to critically analyze and evaluate the relevance of traditional birth attendants in health promotion from a contemporary global health perspective. I...... middle of paper .......25. Taylor P., (2003), the contribution of lay people to public health in: Public health for the 21st century. Buckingham Open University Press, Buckingham, 2003, pages 128 to 144.26. United Nations, (2013) millennium development goals report 2013 [ONLINE] United Nations. Available at: http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/publications/mdgs-report-2013.html [Accessed December 26, 2013]27. World Health Organization. (1992).Traditional birth attendants: a joint WHO/UNICEF/UNFPA statement. Geneva: World Health Organization.28. World Health Organization. (1978). Primary health care. Alma-Atta29. World Health Organization. (2013). WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014 – 202330. Yao, J., Murray, AT and Agadjanian, V., 2013. A geographical perspective on access to sexual and reproductive health care for women in rural Africa. Social sciences and medicine (1982), 96, 60