Maternal mortality in low- and middle-income countries continues to remain high. The Ugandan Ministry of Health's Strategic Plan suggests that little, if any, progress has been made in Uganda in terms of improvements in Maternal Health [Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5] and, more specifically, in reducing maternal mortality. Furthermore, the UNDP report on the MDGs describes Uganda's progres...

BACKGROUND Unsafe abortion is estimated to account for 13% of maternal mortality globally. Medical abortion is a safe alternative. METHODS By estimating mortality risks for unsafe and medical abortion and childbirth for Tanzania and Ethiopia, we modelled changes in maternal mortality that are achievable if unsafe abortion were replaced by medical abortion. We selected Ethiopia and Tanzania be...

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) maternal mortality target risks being underachieved like its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) predecessor. The MDG skilled birth attendant (SBA) strategy proved inadequate to end preventable maternal deaths for the millions of rural women living in resource-constrained settings. This equity gap has been successfully addressed by integrating a community-ba...

BACKGROUND Provincial maternal mortality surveillance systems (PMMSS) have been set up in nearly all the provinces in China to monitor local maternal mortality and provide the evidence for maternal health interventions suited to local conditions. However, till now little is known outside of China about the characteristics of PMMSS. METHODS A systematic review of the literature contained in Pu...

BACKGROUND Wars affect maternal health services by destroying health systems. Eritrea experienced two wars with neighbouring Ethiopia. Despite this, the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in Eritrea fell by 69% from 1590 per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 501 in 2015. This study aimed to examine facilitators of and barriers to the utilisation of and access to maternal health services in Eritrea. ...

In developed countries the Maternal Mortality Ratio’s (MMR) are low. To get a large enough sample to identify trends in the quality of maternal health care or of the diseases causing maternal deaths takes anything from 3 to 10 years. The information might be out of date due to new developments and discoveries by the time the information is published. Further, the circumstances related to a mate...

BACKGROUND Maternal mortality, as a largely avoidable cause of death, is an important focus of international development efforts, and a target for Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5. However, data weaknesses have made monitoring progress problematic. In 2006, a new maternal mortality working group was established to develop improved estimation methods and make new estimates of maternal mortali...

Alongside endorsing Millennium Development Goal 5 in 2000, India launched its National Population Policy in 2000 and the National Health Policy in 2002. However, these have failed thus far to reduce the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) by the targeted 5.5% per annum. Under the banner of the National Rural Health Mission, the Government of India launched a national conditional cash transfer (CCT) ...

BACKGROUND Maternal mortality is extremely high in Nigeria. Accurate estimation of maternal mortality is challenging in low-income settings such as Nigeria where vital registration is incomplete. The objective of this study was to estimate the lifetime risk (LTR) of maternal death and the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in Jigawa State, Northern Nigeria using the Sisterhood Method. METHODS Int...

OBJECTIVE To examine the quality of the maternal health system in Eritrea to understand system deficiencies and its relevance to maternal mortality within the context of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5. METHODS A sample of 118 health facilities was surveyed. Data were collected on 5 dimensions of health system quality: availability; accessibility; management; infrastructure; and process i...