Maternal death review: A path to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of improving maternal health

Abstract

Childbirth is a universally celebrated event, an occasion for dancing, fireworks, flowers or gifts. Yet, for many thousands of women each day, child bearing is experienced not as the joyful event as it should be, but as a private hell that may end in death (1). Worldwide, over half a million women die every year as a result of complications arising from pregnancy and childbirth. For every woman who dies, many more suffer from serious conditions that can affect them for the rest of their lives (2). According to the WHO 2000 estimate, Ethiopia ranks 4th (24,000) in the absolute number and 22nd in maternal mortality ratio (3). The current estimate for MMR in Ethiopia is 871 per100, 000 live births (4)