National estimates for maternal mortality: an analysis based on the WHO systematic review of maternal mortality and morbidity

Table 1 Characteristics of studies. Characteristics of the studies and reports deriving national MMR estimates by region.

Variables	Africa	Asia	Latin America & Caribbean	Developed Regions	Total
TOTAL	35	36	27	43	141
Study design/method
Census	0	1	0	0	1
Cross sectional (Vital registration)	3	18	16	42	79
Direct sisterhood method	22	7	5	0	34
Indirect sisterhood method	6	2	3	0	11
Direct survey	1	2	0	0	3
RAMOS^a	3	5	2	0	10
CEMD^b	0	1	1	1	3
Sampling
Random	29	11	8	0	48
All women	6	25	19	43	93
Data reported
Estimates	28	12	8	1	49
Actual counts	6	23	18	42	89
Mixed/Other	1	1	1	0	3
Information on lost to follow-up/non-respondents
Yes	29	12	8	1	50
No	6	24	19	42	91
Maternal death definition
ICD9=ICD10 up to 42 days pp	4	23	15	41	83
ICD10 up to 60 days pp.	1	0	1	0	2
ICD10 up to 1 year pp.	1	0	0	1	2
Preg-related up to 42 days pp.	5	2	2	0	9
Preg-related up to 60 days pp.	22	6	5	0	33
No Maternal Death Definition	2	5	4	1	12
Maternal deaths confirmed
Confidential enquiry	1	0	3	1	5
Verbal autopsy	1	4	1	0	6
Confidential enquiry & verbal aut.	3	1	1	0	5
Multiple sources	0	1	0	0	1
Unknown	1	1	0	0	2
Not applicable^c	27	8	7	0	42
No confirmation maternal deaths	2	21	15	42	80
Special efforts to capture all maternal deaths
Multiple data sources	2	3	3	2	10
Identifying deaths of WRA^d	2	2	0	0	4
Special enquiry/interview	29	10	8	0	47
Yes but unspecified	0	0	1	0	1
No	2	21	15	41	79

^aRAMOS: Reproductive Age Mortality Studies
^bCEMD: Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths
^cIncludes studies using a pregnancy-related death definition for which ascertainment of cause of death does not apply.
^dWRA: Women in reproductive age.

ISSN: 1471-2458