BACKGROUND Pakistan is one of the six countries estimated to contribute to over half of all maternal deaths worldwide. To address its high maternal mortality rate, in particular the inequities in access to maternal health care services, the government of Pakistan created a new cadre of community-based midwives (CMW). A key expectation is that the CMWs will improve access to skilled antenatal an...

BACKGROUND The fifth Millennium Development Goal (MDG-5) aimed to improve maternal health, targeting a maternal mortality ratio (MMR) reduction of 75% between 1990 and 2015. The objective of this study was to identify all maternal deaths in Suriname, determine the extent of underreporting, estimate the reduction, audit the maternal deaths and assess underlying causes and substandard care factor...

Background: Maternal and foetal mortality is unacceptably high in most resource-limited countries and the practice of obstetric anaesthesia has an important influence on outcome for both mother and baby. The much needed close co-operation and collaboration between obstetricians and obstetric anaesthetist providers is crucial for the safety and comfort of parturients, particularly in lowresource...

BACKGROUND Maternal mortality in developing countries is high and international targets for reduction are unlikely to be met. Zambia's maternal mortality ratio was 591 per 100,000 live births according to survey data (2007) while routinely collected data captured only about 10% of these deaths. In one district in Zambia medical staff reviewed deaths occurring in the labour ward but no related r...

in this study, the effect of maternal additive genetic and environment on body weight at 6 weeks (bwt6w), breast width (hbrs), carcass weight (carcwt), breast weight (brswt), blood hematocrit value (hem), residual feed intake (rfi), daily feed intake (dfi) and average daily gain (adg) were investigated in a commercial broiler dam line. with and without maternal effects, six different animal mod...

Hypertension developing during pregnancy may be caused by a variety of different pathophysiological mechanisms. The occurrence of proteinuric hypertension during the second half of pregnancy identifies a group of women whose hypertensive disorder is most likely to be caused by the pregnancy itself and for whom the risk of complications, including maternal mortality, is highest. Physicians ident...

Malawi has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world. One of the factors contributing to high maternal mortality is the non-use of health facilities during pregnancy and delivery. The aim of this study is to examine the factors associated with non-institutional deliveries in Malawi. Data from 2004 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey and multinomial logistic regression were used...

Despite World Health Organization recommendations that all women deliver with a skilled birth attendant (SBA), research continues to demonstrate large disparities in use of SBAs by socioeconomic status (SES). Yet few quantitative studies empirically examine the factors underlying these disparities, due in part to the fact that current models do not provide clear pathways-with measurable mediato...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether a complex community intervention in rural Zambia improved understanding of maternal health and increased use of maternal health-care services. METHODS The intervention took place in six rural districts selected by the Zambian Ministry of Health. It involved community discussions on safe pregnancy and delivery led by trained volunteers and the provision of emerge...

There is a broad consensus and evidence that shows qualified, accessible, and responsive human resources for health (HRH) can make a major impact on the health of the populations. At the same time, there is widespread recognition that HRH crises particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) impede the achievement of better health outcomes/targets. In order to achieve the Sustainable ...