Maternal mortality: who, when, where, and why

@article{Ronsmans2006MaternalMW,
  title={Maternal mortality: who, when, where, and why},
  author={Carine Ronsmans and Wendy Jane Graham},
  journal={The Lancet},
  year={2006},
  volume={368},
  pages={1189-1200}
}
View on Elsevier
doi.org
1,783 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
55
Background Citations
589
Methods Citations
7
Results Citations
18

1,783 Citations

Maternal mortality.

Reflections on the maternal mortality millennium goal.

TLDR
The available data on the progress and the challenges to the United Nations' fifth Millennium Development Goal of achieving a 75 percent worldwide reduction in the maternal mortality by 2015 from what it was in 1990 are examined.

Why do maternal and newborn deaths continue to occur?

Maternal Mortality and Maternity Care from 1990 to 2005: Uneven but Important Gains

Saving Mothers’ Lives: Reviewing maternal deaths to make motherhood safer: 2006–2008

TLDR
For the first time there has been a reduction in the inequalities gap, with a significant decrease in maternal mortality rates among those living in the most deprived areas and those in the lowest socio-economic group.

Reducing financial barriers to obstetric care in low-income countries: the need for action

TLDR
Maternal causes are responsible for 18% of deaths in women in less developed countries, and 75% of these are estimated to be preventable with a basic package of maternity care delivered by the primary health care system (health centres and hospital).

Maternal mortality in South Africa: an update from the 2007 Community Survey

TLDR
Maternal mortality defined as ‘pregnancy-related death’ appears no longer as a proper indicator of ‘safe motherhood’ in this situation and differential levels in MMR were similar to those found in 2001.

Progress and Challenges in Making Pregnancy Safer: A Global Perspective

TLDR
The world is far from eliminating avoidable suffering and premature mortality among women of reproductive age and the challenge ahead is to refocus program content and to shift from development of new technologies to the establishment of viable organizational strategies that build health system infrastructure and ensure effective and efficient continuum of care.

The association between maternal mortality and non-medical factors in African countries

TLDR
The results from the logistic regression suggest that there is no statistically significant relationship between any of the variables and maternal mortality, but the odds ratio for Human Development Index (HDI) and Gross National Income per capita (GNI) imply that African countries with low HDI are about three time more likely to have high maternal mortality compared to high HDI countries.

Maternal Mortality - A Public Health Problem

TLDR
Estimates of maternal mortality ratio trend between 1990 and 2010 suggest a global reduction, with a greater reduction in developing countries including Bangladesh than in developed countries, but to meet the challenge of Fifth Millennium Development Goal (MDG5), the annual rate of MMR decline and increase of skilled attendant at birth need to be still faster.
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 72 REFERENCES

Maternal mortality at the end of a decade: signs of progress?

TLDR
Examination of recent trends in two indicators associated with maternal mortality concludes that whereas there may be grounds for optimism regarding trends in maternal mortality in parts of North Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East, the situation in sub-Saharan Africa remains disquieting.

Causes of maternal mortality in rural Bangladesh, 1976-85.

TLDR
Findings support the need to develop a service strategy to address the risks of childbearing and childbirth in areas such as rural Bangladesh, where almost all deliveries take place at home, based not only on preventive and educational interventions, but also on systematic attendance at home deliveries by trained professional midwives.

A framework for analyzing the determinants of maternal mortality.

TLDR
A comprehensive and integrated framework for analyzing the cultural, social, economic, behavioral, and biological factors that influence maternal mortality is presented, concluding that all determinants of maternal mortality must operate through a sequence of only three intermediate outcomes.

Maternal mortality in Guinea-Bissau: the use of verbal autopsy in a multi-ethnic population.

TLDR
The VA described in the present paper left 30% of the maternal deaths unclassified without a specific diagnosis, in contrast to methods by which cause of death is established by a panel of medical experts, and should be economically and technically viable in areas where health workers have only minimal training.

Of blind alleys and things that have worked: history’s lessons on reducing maternal mortality.

TLDR
Where preconditions have been met and professionalisation of obstetric care has been adopted in developing countries the same pattern of reduction of maternal mortality was observed be the country still poor (Sri Lanka) or wealthier (Malaysia Thailand).

A Community-Based Investigation of Maternal Mortality from Obstetric Haemorrhage in Rural Zimbabwe

TLDR
In the rural province Masvingo in Zimbabwe, 25% of maternal deaths were caused by obstetric haemorrhage, which had a cause specific maternal mortality rate (MMR) of 40 per 100 000 live births, and non-health service factors contributing to the adverse outcome were found in actions of the patient herself or a traditional birth attendant.

The emergence of political priority for safe motherhood in Honduras.

TLDR
This paper draws on three political science literatures--constructivist international relations theory, policy transfer and agenda-setting--to explain how political priority for safe motherhood emerged in Honduras, a factor that underpinned the decline in maternal mortality levels.

Beyond the numbers: reviewing maternal deaths and complications to make pregnancy safer.

  • G. Lewis
  • Medicine
    British medical bulletin
  • 2003
TLDR
Maternal death or morbidity reviews provide evidence of where the main problems in overcoming maternal mortality and morbidity may lie, produce an analysis of what can be done in practical terms and highlight the key areas requiring recommendations for health sector and community action as well as guidelines for improving clinical outcomes.

THE SAFE MOTHERHOOD INITIATIVE: A CALL TO ACTION

HIV and the magnitude of pregnancy-related mortality in Pointe Noire, Congo

TLDR
The apparent survival benefit of pregnant HIV-positive women is largely due to their low fertility in the latest stage of the disease, which may have important implications for the interpretation of trends in maternal mortality in the context of HIV.
...