Reducing maternal mortality has been a global priority for more than two decades now, and Millennium Development Goal 5 targets a 75% reduction in maternal mortality ratios between 1990 and 2015. While some countries in sub-Saharan Africa have shown modest success in lowering their maternal mortality ratios, overall progress in reducing maternal mortality in the region has been Maternal Health ...

Introduction Jharkhand has a maternal mortality ratio of 312 maternal deaths for every 100,000 deliveries, higher than the national average of 254 maternal deaths for every 100,000 deliveries. Only 47% of the deliveries in Jharkhand are attended by a skilled birth attendant, as opposed to the national average 76% of deliveries in India, which have skilled birth attendance. There is a shortage o...

The international community resolved in 1987 to reduce maternal mortality around the world. This resolution was strengthened in 2001 when 189 countries signed the Millennium Declaration, committing themselves to Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 towards improvement of maternal health. To accelerate national progress towards achievement of MDG 5, a deeper understanding of what works at scale i...

The impact of HIV on maternal mortality and more broadly on the health of women, remains poorly documented and understood. Two recent reports attempt to address the conceptual and methodological challenges that arise in estimating HIV-related maternal mortality and trends. This paper presents and compares the methods and discusses how they affect estimates at global and regional levels. Country...

OBJECTIVE To analyze the maternal mortality in the ABC Region, comparing indicators from the Committee for the Study of Maternal Mortality in the Great ABC Region (CEMM) of the II Regional Health Center of Santo Andre (DIR II), and the State Data Analysis System Foundation (SEADE). METHODS This is a cross sectional study. The information was obtained from the database of CEMM DIR II - Santo A...

Understanding the underlying factors that led to maternal deaths through a maternal death review (MDR) throws light on the causes, characteristics and circumstances of the death. We reviewed and report on the implementation of MDR in India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka, capturing the experiences of MDR initiatives, follow-up actions and lessons learnet. Overall, while the findings fr...

This paper aims to highlight the importance of aspiring to achieve universal reporting of maternal deaths as a part of taking responsibility for these avoidable tragedies. The paper first discusses the reasons for reporting maternal deaths, distinguishing between individual case notification and aggregate statistics. This is followed by a summary of the status of reporting at national and inter...

BACKGROUND An intercultural birthing house was established in the Highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, as an intervention to reduce maternal mortality among indigenous women. This birth center, known locally as the Casa Materna, is a place where women can come to give birth with their traditional birth attendant. However, three months after opening, no woman had used the birthing house. METHODS This...

More than 99% of maternal deaths occur in low-resource settings; in parts of the developing world, as many as one in six women die of maternal causes. Currently, seven developing countries-Afghanistan, Angola, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Tanzania-have maternal mortality ratios of at least 1,400 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.

BACKGROUND Politics plays a critical role in agenda setting in health affairs; therefore, understanding the priorities of the political agenda in health is very important. The political priority for safe motherhood has been investigated at the national level in different countries. The objective of this study was to explore why and how maternal health became a political priority at sub-national...