Fil-Am midwife is named CNN Hero of the Year

Robin Lim, a Filipino-American midwife who helps poor women have healthy pregnancies and births in Indonesia, has been named 2011 CNN Hero of the Year.

In Sunday's star-studded ceremony at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, Lim received the CNN Hero of the Year 2011 award from Anderson Cooper.

"Today on our Earth, 981 mothers in the prime of their life will die -- and tomorrow again and yesterday. And I'm asking you to help change that. We don't even know how many babies are lost, but all of us can help change that," a tearful Lim said, as she accepted the honor.

Lim, who was born to an American soldier and a Filipino mother, decided to become a midwife after her younger sister died from pregnancy complications a few years ago.

She and her husband sold their house in Hawaii, and moved to Bali, Indonesia to "reinvent" their lives.

In Indonesia, Lim noted pregnant women are 300 times more likely to die in the next 12 months than women who are not pregnant.

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