OBJECTIVE To assess the association between cesarean delivery rates and pregnancy outcomes in African health facilities. METHODS Data were obtained from all births over 2-3 months in 131 facilities. Outcomes included maternal deaths, severe maternal morbidity, fresh stillbirths, and neonatal deaths and morbidity. RESULTS Median cesarean delivery rate was 8.8% among 83439 births. Cesarean de...

CONTEXT Maternal and fetal trauma is an important cause of adverse fetal outcomes. However, systematic exclusion from US injury surveillance programs of even the most severe outcome, fetal/neonatal death, has led to a lack of understanding about frequency, causes, and prevention. OBJECTIVE To determine the rate of traumatic fetal deaths reported in state fetal death registries and the types o...

OBJECTIVES To estimate the reduction in maternal mortality associated with the emergency obstetric care provided by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and to compare this to the fifth Millennium Development Goal of reducing maternal mortality. METHODS The impact of MSF's intervention was approximated by estimating how many deaths were averted among women transferred to and treated at MSF's emerge...

The Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths (CEMD) in South Africa has been operational for 15 years. This case study describes the process of notification and independent assessment of maternal deaths, predominantly in facilities. In the earlier years of the Enquiry, institutional maternal mortality ratio increased and was 176.2 per 100 000 live births in the 2008-10 triennium; thereafter it...

OBJECTIVE (1) To determine the incidence of near-miss, maternal death and mortality index; (2) to compare near-miss cases as per WHO criteria with that of maternal mortality; and (3) to study the causes of near-miss and maternal deaths. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. SETTING Shri Vasantrao Naik Govt. Medical College, Yavatmal, India. STUDY POPULATION All cases of near-miss as pe...

Background: Maternal mortality ratio in Ecuador is the only millennium goal on which national agencies are still making strong efforts to reach 2015 target. The purpose of the study was to process national maternal death databases to identify a specific association pattern of variable included in the death certificate. Design and methods: The study processed mortality databases published yearly...

OBJECTIVE to analyze the rates of maternal mortality due to hemorrhage identified in Brazil from 1997 to 2009. METHODS the time series and population data from the Brazilian Health Ministry, Mortality Information System and Live Birth Information System were examined. From the Mortality Information System, we initially selected all reported deaths of women between 10 and 49 years old, which o...

Maternal deaths amongst 4641 deliveries over 5 years were analysed. ine overall maternal mortality was 27.4/1000 total births and 24.4/ 1000 when abortion deaths were excluded. Complications of pregnancy, labour and puerperium accounted for 72.4%, and indirect causes for 27.6 percent of deaths. Heamorrhage from all causes (29.9%) and sepsis including septic abortion (29.1%) were the commonest c...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Reliable data on mortality and morbidity among women of reproductive age group are scarce in India. The present study is the Maharashtra component of a large multicentric task force study on the cause of death by verbal autopsy conducted in five States of India. The data pertaining to deaths among reproductive age group women are presented along with the factors contribu...

Two recent reports focus on maternal mortality. Use of a sophisticated new model yielded updated time series estimates of maternal deaths worldwide and the global maternal mortality ratio (MMR) from 1980 to 2008. The model uses new statistical methods and previously untapped data sources including traditional vital statistics and census data, as well as sibling surveys and verbal autopsy report...