More than two decades after the launch of the Safe Motherhood Initiative (Nairobi 1987) , maternal health in many developing countries has shown little or no improvement. Year after year, more than half a million mothers continue to die in silence. The specificities of the complex cross-cutting issue only partly explain why tireless efforts have led to insufficient progress so far. While some s...

The various means of delivering essential obstetric services are described for settings in which the maternal mortality ratio is relatively low. This review yields four basic models of care, which are best described by organizational characteristics relating to where women give birth and who performs deliveries. In Model 1, deliveries are conducted at home by a community member who has received...

BACKGROUND The maternal mortality ratio in Sudan was estimated at 750/100,000 live births. Sudan was one of eleven countries that are responsible for 65% of global maternal deaths according to a recent World Health Organization (WHO) estimate. Maternal mortality in Kassala State was high in national demographic surveys. This study was conducted to investigate the causes and contributing factors...

The various means of delivering essential obstetric services are described for settings in which the maternal mortality ratio is relatively low. This review yields four basic models of care, which are best described by organizational characteristics relating to where women give birth and who performs deliveries. In Model 1, deliveries are conducted at home by a community member who has received...

In this issue, Hill, AbouZahr &Wardlaw (1) present new estimates of maternal mortality for 1995. They have carefully adjusted the data for underreporting, and used statistical models in countries lacking relevant data. They have obtained a global estimate ranging from some 303 000 to 822 000 maternal deaths. This very large range is mostly the consequence of the limited quality of available dat...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Despite numerous studies reporting an elevated risk of infant mortality among women who are obese, the magnitude of the association is unclear. A systematic review and meta-analysis was undertaken to assess the association between maternal overweight or obesity and infant mortality. METHODS Four health care databases and gray literature sources were searched and scre...

In Miyun County in China the medical authorities registered an elevated maternal mortality ratio which needed to be verified in order to design corrective changes. A decision was taken in 1988 to start a project of pilot interventions in the organization of maternal health services and access for obstetric emergencies. A control and pilot area were chosen in order to test the validity of the in...

estimating maternal mortality level is constantly challenging researchers and planners both in rich and poor countries. in developing countries, particularly in burkina faso where the registration system is not working properly, censuses and surveys are the main providers of maternal mortality estimates. however, censuses provide more reliable data about maternal mortality especially at sub-nat...

Maternal mortality ratio in low- to middle-income countries (LMIC) is 14 times higher than in high-income countries. This is partially due to lack of antenatal care, unmet needs for family planning and education, as well as low rates of birth managed by skilled attendants. While direct causes of maternal death such as complications of hypertension, obstetric haemorrhage and sepsis remain the la...

BACKGROUND Analysis of severe maternal morbidity (maternal near misses) provides information on the quality of care. We assessed the prevalence/incidence of maternal near miss, maternal mortality and case fatality ratio through systematic review of studies on severe maternal morbidity in sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS We examined studies that reported prevalence/incidence of severe maternal morb...