Improving surveillance for maternal and perinatal health in 2 districts of rural Tanzania.

OBJECTIVES As part of a community-based reproductive health project in rural Tanzania, a maternal and perinatal health care surveillance system was established to monitor pregnancy outcomes. This report presents preliminary results. METHODS Village health workers were trained to collect data during health education visits to pregnant and postpartum women. Maternal and fetal or infant survival or deaths were tracked on a community monitoring board. RESULTS Among 904 pregnancies, the fetoneonatal mortality rate was 69.4 deaths per 1000 live births and fetal deaths; 4 maternal deaths occurred. Intrapartum and early neonatal deaths of infants with birthweights of 1500 g or greater represented a large proportion of deaths. CONCLUSIONS These preliminary results will be used to prioritize project interventions, including increasing access to skilled delivery care.