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Off to a rapid start: appraising maternal mortality and services
Author(s) -
Campbell Oona,
Koblinsky M.,
Taylor P.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1016/0020-7292(95)02319-8
Subject(s) - enthusiasm , developing country , quality (philosophy) , medicine , maternal health , business , environmental health , health services , economic growth , psychology , population , economics , social psychology , philosophy , epistemology
Enthusiasm for ‘doing something about Safe Motherhood” has been expressed in many developing countries, but priorities for action cannot be identified without adequately assessing a country's maternal mortality situation. It is also important, however, to avoid embarking on time‐consuming research measuring indicators which are not essential to developing programs. After presenting an overview of ideal Safe Motherhood program components, the paper lists a series of questions which serve as an assessment tool for collecting useful information and for identifying data sources on maternal mortality and health. The framework for these questions centers around the following steps: (1) gaining an overview of health policy relevant to maternal mortality and morbidities; (2) assessing the magnitude and causes of maternal mortality and morbidity, and the characteristics of groups at particular risk; and (3) assessing the available inputs in terms of services (access, quality, providers, what is provided at various tiers, etc.) and in terms of the culture and existing resources and groups.