BACKGROUND Maternal mortality is a major health problem in most resource-poor settings, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. In Ghana, maternal mortality remains high and births attended by skilled health professionals are still low despite the introduction, in 2005, of free maternal health care for all women seeking care in public health facilities. OBJECTIVES This study aimed to explore geogra...

As part of the MASCOT/WOTRO multinational team conducting the maternal health literature mapping, four Latin American researchers were particularly interested in analysing information specific to their region. The mapping started with 45,959 papers uploaded from MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, LILACAS, PopLINE, PsycINFO and Web of Knowledge. From these, 4175 full texts were reviewed and 2295 papers we...

OBJECTIVE To examine the progress made towards the Safe Motherhood Initiative goals in three areas of the United Republic of Tanzania during the 1990s. METHODS Maternal mortality in the United Republic of Tanzania was monitored by sentinel demographic surveillance of more than 77,000 women of reproductive age, and by prospective monitoring of mortality in the following locations; an urban sit...

Maternal mortality remains a huge problem in the developing world, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.1 According to the World Health Organization, efforts intended to decrease maternal deaths need to recognize and address unsafe abortions as a significant contributor to the high rates of maternal mortality found in developing countries.2,3 In Africa, where abortions are highly restricted, 680 wo...

BACKGROUND The huge proportion of child marriage contributes to high rates of pregnancies among adolescent girls in Bangladesh. Despite substantial progress in reducing maternal mortality in the last two decades, the rate of adolescent pregnancy remains high. The use of skilled maternal health services is still low in Bangladesh. Several quantitative studies described the use of skilled materna...

Since the beginning of the Safe Motherhood Initiative, India has accounted for at least a quarter of maternal deaths reported globally. India's goal is to lower maternal mortality to less than 100 per 100,000 livebirths but that is still far away despite its programmatic efforts and rapid economic progress over the past two decades. Geographical vastness and sociocultural diversity mean that ma...

OBJECTIVE To examine the impact of health-system-wide improvements on maternal health outcomes in the Philippines. METHODS A retrospective longitudinal controlled study was used to compare a province that fast tracked the implementation of health system reforms with other provinces in the same region that introduced reforms less systematically and intensively between 2006 and 2009. FINDINGS...

Although India has made slow progress in reducing maternal mortality, progress in Tamil Nadu has been rapid. This case study documents how Tamil Nadu has taken initiatives to improve maternal health services leading to reduction in maternal morality from 380 in 1993 to 90 in 2007. Various initiatives include establishment of maternal death registration and audit, establishment and certification...

In settings where active conflict, resource scarcity, and logistical constraints prevail, provision of maternal health services within health centers and hospitals is unfeasible and alternative community-based strategies are needed. In eastern Burma, such conditions necessitated implementation of the "Mobile Obstetric Maternal Health Worker" (MOM) project, which has employed a community-based a...

Maternal mortality has been established as one of the priority problems of public health, directly affecting women in the pregnant puerperal cycle and belonging to underprivileged social classes. Considering this situation, the aim of the present study was to identify associations between the race of women living in the state of Paraíba and age, educational level and type of death of women who ...