Data from the past suggest that maternal deaths mostly occurred due to obstetric complications, like postpartum hemorrhage, sepsis or maternal morbidities, like eclampsia and cardiac diseases. This trend, however, has changed over a period of time in developing countries, like India where increasing number of maternal deaths have been attributed in recent years to preventable infectious causes,...

a MRC Maternal and Infant Health Care Strategies Research Unit, University of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. b Department of Reproductive Health and Research, World Health Organization, 20 avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland. c Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, England. d Office for National Statistics, London, England. Correspondence to João Paulo Souza (e-mail: souzaj@...

Methods Maternal Mortality Surveillance has been conducted by the Government of Health since 2007. All maternal deaths in our country are first evaluated by the committees in the local areas. The records of the local committees are reported to the Preliminary Investigation Committee for Maternal Deaths at the Ministry of Health of Turkey. Medical hospital records, death certificates, autopsy re...

INTRODUCTION Maternal mortality in Singapore, as in other developed countries, has remained low in the past decade. In the United Kingdom and Australia, maternal deaths from suicide and psychiatric causes have been the leading cause of maternal mortality, and there have therefore been comprehensive healthcare programmes to address the mental health needs of mothers. METHODS In this study, we ...

BACKGROUND Despite the avoidable nature of maternal mortality, unacceptably high numbers of maternal deaths occur in developing countries. Considering its preventability, maternal mortality is being increasingly recognised as a human rights issue. Integration of a human rights perspective in maternal health programmes could contribute positively in eliminating avertable maternal deaths. This st...

Despite global efforts to reduce maternal mortality, maternal deaths from bacterial sepsis have actually risen in the UK. The group A streptococcus, also known as Streptococcus pyogenes, is the leading cause of infection-related death in pregnancy and the puerperium. Many clinicians remain unaware of the risks posed to this particular group of otherwise fit, healthy patients despite the fact th...