B Subha Sri, Renu Khanna CommonHealth Baroda, March 2012

 A maternal death is the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and the site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes.

 Pregnancy-related death is defined as the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the cause of death.  Fatalities during but unrelated to a pregnancy are termed accidental, incidental, or nonobstetrical maternal deaths.

Direct Maternal Death - result of a complication of the pregnancy, delivery, or management of the two Indirect Maternal Death - is a pregnancy-related death in a patient with a preexisting or newly developed health problem unrelated to pregnancy

 Stillbirth - deadborn fetus either before onset of labour (antepartum death) or  because of pregnancy complications or maternal diseases  no special reason during labour (intrapartum death)  Complications arising during birth Where women receive good care during childbirth, intrapartum deaths represent less than 10% of stillbirths due to unexpected severe complications.

Perinatal death = Stillbirths + Deaths of newborn in the first week of life Perinatal mortality is an important indicator of maternal care and of maternal health and nutrition

 Maternal mortality ratio (MMR)  Number of maternal deaths during a given time period per live births during the same time-period.

Number of maternal deaths per 1000 women in reproductive age group (15 to 44 years) in the population

Accounts for number of pregnancies and risk In sub Saharan Africa lifetime risk of maternal death is 1 in 16, while in developed countries it is 1 in 28,000

Maternal death, from an epidemiological perspective, is a relatively rare event Comprehensive registration of deaths and their causes, by and large, does not exist Cause of death is many times difficult to attribute Census, surveys and models have to be used to estimate levels of maternal mortality