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Maternal mortality and morbidity

Afghanistan

• Health Policy and Planning
  • National and sub-national analysis of the health benefits and cost-effectiveness of strategies to reduce maternal mortality in Afghanistan [2013]

• Lancet Global Health
  • Achieving maternal and child health gains in Afghanistan: a Countdown to 2015 country case study [2016]

Africa

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Road to maternal death: the pooled estimate of maternal near-miss, its primary causes and determinants in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis [2024]

• Ethiopian Journal of Health Sciences
  • Skilled Health Personnel Attended Delivery as a Proxy Indicator for Maternal and Perinatal Mortality: A Systematic Review [2014]

• International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
  • Maternal Mortality in Africa: Regional Trends (2000-2017) [2022]

• PLoS ONE
  • Socioeconomic, demographic and obstetric determinants of maternal near miss in Africa: A systematic review [2025]

Americas

• Pan American Health Organization
  • Strategy for accelerating maternal mortality reduction in the Region of the Americas based on Primary Health Care [2024]

Arab countries

• United Nations Population Fund
  • Improving data for evidence-based decision-making: Reinforcing civil registration and vital statistics and maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response systems interlinkages [2022]

Argentina

• Bulletin of the World Health Organization
  • A comprehensive assessment of maternal deaths in Argentina: translating multicentre collaborative research into action - PMC [2007]

Australia

• Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
  • Maternal deaths

• NSW Health
  • Reporting of Maternal Deaths to the NSW Clinical Excellence Commission

Bangladesh

• Journal of Global Health
  • Maternal mortality in Bangladesh: Who, when, why, and where? A national survey-based analysis [2023]
  • Levels, trends, causes, place and time of, care-seeking for, and barriers in preventing indirect maternal deaths in Bangladesh: An analysis of national-level household surveys [2023]

• Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition
  • Reducing Maternal Mortality and Improving Maternal Health: Bangladesh and MDG 5 [2008]

Bangladesh, Bolivia, Mozambique

• Population Health Metrics
  • A comparison of approaches to measuring maternal mortality in Bangladesh, Mozambique, and Bolivia [2022]

Belgium

• Statbel
  • Maternal mortality

Benin

• SSM - Health Systems
  • “We do these audits, but in the end, it’s useless.” How can facility-based maternal death reviews improve the quality of care in Benin? [2024]

Botswana

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • A root-cause analysis of maternal deaths in Botswana: towards developing a culture of patient safety and quality improvement [2014]

Brazil

• BMC Medicine
  • Long-term impact of a conditional cash transfer programme on maternal mortality: a nationwide analysis of Brazilian longitudinal data [2021]

• Cadernos de Saúde Pública
  • Estimation of maternal mortality rates in Brazil, 2008-2011 [2014]

• Ciência & Saúde Coletiva
  • Time series analysis: trend in late maternal mortality in Brazil, 2010-2019 [2024]
  • Maternal mortality in Brazil: an analysis of temporal trends and spatial clustering [2024]
  • Will Brazil comply with the SDG 3.1 of the 2030 Agenda? An analysis of maternal mortality, from 1996 to 2018 [2021]

• Epidemiologia e Serviços de Saúde
  • Validation study of obstetric hospitalization data held on the Brazilian National Health System Hospital Information System for maternal morbidity surveillance: Brazil, 2021-2022 [2024]

• JAMA Network Open
  • Association of Conditional Cash Transfers With Maternal Mortality Using the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort [2023]

• Jornal de Pediatria
  • Temporal and spatial evolution of maternal and neonatal mortality rates in Brazil, 1997–2012 [2016]

• Revista Brasileira de Epidemiologia
  • Usefulness of the Hospital Information System for maternal mortality surveillance in Brazil [2023]

• Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia
  • Temporal Trend of Near Miss and its Regional Variations in Brazil from 2010 to 2018 [2021]

• Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
  • Maternal Mortality in Brazil, 1990 to 2019: a systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 [2022]

• Revista de Saúde Pública
  • Racial disparities and maternal mortality in Brazil: findings from a national database [2024]

Burkina Faso

• Iranian Journal of Public Health
  • Maternal Mortality in Burkina Faso: A Method from Population Census 2006 [2013]

Burundi

• Tropical Medicine & International Health
  • Achieving the Millennium Development Goal of reducing maternal mortality in rural Africa: an experience from Burundi [2013]

Cambodia

• BMJ Open
  • Addressing the human resources crisis: a case study of Cambodia's efforts to reduce maternal mortality (1980-2012) [2013]

Canada

• Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada
  • Validation of Database Autopsy for Review of Pregnancy-Associated Deaths in Canada [2024]

• Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology
  • Severe maternal morbidity surveillance: Monitoring pregnant women at high risk for prolonged hospitalisation and death [2020]

• Public Health Agency of Canada
  • Database Autopsy: An Efficient and Effective Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths in Canada [2021]
  • Severe Maternal Morbidity in Canada: Temporal Trends and Regional Variations, 2003-2016 [2019]

• Statistics Canada
  • Number of maternal deaths and maternal mortality rates for selected causes

Chile

• Linacre Quarterly
  • Impact of reproductive laws on maternal mortality: the chilean natural experiment [2013]

China

• BioMed Research International
  • Provincial Maternal Mortality Surveillance Systems in China [2014]

• BMC Health Services Research
  • Risk management of pregnant women and the associated low maternal mortality from 2008-2017 in China: a national longitude study [2022]

• BMC Public Health
  • The trends of maternal mortality ratios and cause pattern in 34 Chinese provinces, 1990-2017 [2022]
  • Maternal mortality ratio in China from 1990 to 2019: trends, causes and correlations [2021]

• BMJ Global Health
  • Reducing maternal mortality in China in the era of the two-child policy [2020]

• PLoS Medicine
  • Spatiotemporal trends and ecological determinants in maternal mortality ratios in 2,205 Chinese counties, 2010–2013: A Bayesian modelling analysis [2020]

Colombia

• International Journal for Equity in Health
  • Measuring socioeconomic and health financing inequality in maternal mortality in Colombia: a mixed methods approach [2020]

• PLoS ONE
  • Maternal mortality in Colombia in 2011: a two level ecological study [2015]

Democratic Republic of Congo

• BMC Public Health
  • Maternal mortality in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo: a 10-year multi-zonal institutional death review [2024]

Denmark

• Danish Medical Journal
  • Reduction in maternal mortality in Denmark over three decades [2021]
  • An audit of 70 maternal deaths [2021]

Developing countries

• World Health Organization
  • Education and severe maternal outcomes in developing countries: a multicountry cross-sectional survey [2014]

Dominican Republic

• International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
  • Examining the Role of Quality of Institutionalized Healthcare on Maternal Mortality in the Dominican Republic [2023]

Ecuador

• Journal of Public Health Research
  • Maternal Deaths Databases Analysis: Ecuador 2003-2013 [2016]

Eritrea

• Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health
  • Evaluation of a community intervention for promotion of safe motherhood in Eritrea [2011]

Ethiopia

• BMC Health Services Research
  • Health system readiness to manage maternal death data and avail evidence for decision-making through the Maternal Death Surveillance System in Ethiopia, 2020 [2023]

• BMC Public Health
  • Trends and causes of maternal mortality in Ethiopia during 1990–2013: findings from the Global Burden of Diseases study 2013 [2017]

• BMC Women's Health
  • Prevalence and determinants of maternal near miss in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis, 2015-2023 [2023]

• BMJ Open
  • Inequality in maternal delays related to maternal death at home and en route to a health facility in Ethiopia: insights from national mortality surveillance data [2025]
  • Place of death and associated factors among reviewed maternal deaths in Ethiopia: a generalised structural equation modelling [2023]

• Ethiopian Journal of Health Sciences
  • Review of Maternal Mortality in Ethiopia: A Story of the Past 30 Years [2014]
  • Reasons for Persistently High Maternal and Perinatal Mortalities in Ethiopia: Part II-So-Socio-Economic and Cultural Factors [2014]
  • Commentary: Reasons for Persistently High Maternal and Perinatal Mortalities in Ethiopia: Part III-Perspective of the “Three Delays” Model [2014]
  • Commentary: Actions in the Pipeline and the Way Forward to Reduce Maternal and Perinatal Mortality in Ethiopia [2014]
  • Causes of Maternal Mortality in Ethiopia: A Significant Decline in Abortion Related Death [2014]

• PLoS ONE
  • Implementation status of maternal death surveillance and response system in Ethiopia: Evidence from a national-level system evaluation [2024]
  • Critical factors associated with postpartum maternal death in Ethiopia [2022]
  • Area of focus to handle delays related to maternal death in Ethiopia [2022]
  • Age, period and cohort analysis of age-specific maternal mortality trend in Ethiopia: A secondary analysis [2020]

• Reproductive Health
  • Facilitators and barriers to the implementation of maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response in Ethiopia: a systematic review [2025]
  • Magnitude, determinants, and complications of short inter pregnancy intervals among pregnant mothers in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis [2024]

• Systematic Reviews
  • Prevalence and determinants of maternal near miss in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis, 2023 [2025]

• Women's Health
  • Severe maternal outcomes and their underlying causes in Ethiopia. Systematic review and meta-analysis [2025]
  • Ethiopia's commitment towards achieving sustainable development goal on reduction of maternal mortality: There is a long way to go [2021]

Europe

• BMJ
  • Maternal mortality in eight European countries with enhanced surveillance systems: descriptive population based study [2022]

• Euro-Peristat
  • What about the mothers? An analysis of maternal mortality and morbidity in perinatal health surveillance systems in Europe [2012]

• European Board and College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
  • European Board and College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology position statement on maternal mortality surveillance in Europe [2024]

• WHO European Region
  • Maternal mortality: Fact sheet
  • Maternal deaths per 100 000 live births according to clinical data

Finland, United States

• Women's Health Reports
  • An Overview of Finnish Maternal Health Care As a Potential Model for Decreasing Maternal Mortality in the United States [2021]

France

• BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
  • Maternal sudden death: A nationwide retrospective study [2023]

• Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology
  • Antepartum severe maternal morbidity: A population-based study of risk factors and delivery outcomes [2022]

Gambia

• BMJ Paediatrics Open
  • Burden and causes of pregnancy-related mortality in The Gambia: evidence from census and health and demographic surveillance data [2023]

• Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health
  • Evaluation of the Maternal Mortality Surveillance System, The Gambia, 2022 [2024]

Georgia

• International Journal of Women's Health
  • Maternal Mortality in Georgia: Incidence, Causes and Level of Underreporting: A National Reproductive Age Mortality Study 2014 [2020]

• Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare
  • Scoping maternal care through the lens of maternal deaths: A retrospective analysis of maternal mortality in Georgia [2020]

Germany

• Robert Koch Institute
  • Limitations in the recording of maternal mortality in Germany: An analysis of statistical challenges [2025]

Ghana

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Millennium development Goal 5: progress and challenges in reducing maternal deaths in Ghana [2016]

Greece

• Lancet
  • Maternal and child mortality in Greece [2014]

• Population, Space and Place
  • Maternal mortality in Greece: The evolution from traditional mammis to overmedicalized obstetric care during the 20th century [2023]

High-income countries

• Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
  • Association between socioeconomic disadvantage and severe maternal morbidity and mortality in high-income countries: a systematic review [2025]

• Journal of Korean Medical Science
  • Global, Regional, and National Trends in Maternal Mortality Ratio Across 37 High Income Countries From 1990 to 2021, With Projections up to 2050: A Comprehensive Analysis From the WHO Mortality Database [2025]

Hong Kong

• JAMA Network Open
  • Characteristics of Maternal Mortality Missed by Vital Statistics in Hong Kong, 2000-2019 [2023]

Iceland

• Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica
  • Maternal deaths in Iceland over 25 years [2016]

India

• BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
  • Trends in maternal mortality in India over two decades in nationally representative surveys [2022]

• Indian Journal of Medical Research
  • Maternal near miss events in India [2021]

Indonesia

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Trends and causes of maternal mortality in Indonesia: a systematic review [2024]

• Global Health Action
  • Relating the construction and maintenance of maternal ill-health in rural Indonesia [2012]

• Population Health Metrics
  • The impact of family planning on maternal mortality in Indonesia: what future contribution can be expected? [2021]

International

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Community engagement in maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response: a realist review [2025]
  • Prevalence of maternal mortality causes based on ICD-MM: a systematic review and meta-analysis [2023]
  • The human right to safely give birth: data from 193 countries show that gender equality does affect maternal mortality [2022]
  • Constructing maternal morbidity – towards a standard tool to measure and monitor maternal health beyond mortality [2016]
  • A common monitoring framework for ending preventable maternal mortality, 2015–2030: phase I of a multi-step process [2016]
  • Framing maternal morbidity: WHO scoping exercise [2013]

• BMC Public Health
  • Global, regional, and national burden of maternal disorders, 1990-2021: a systematic analysis from the global burden of disease study 2021 [2025]
  • A systematic review of individual and ecological determinants of maternal mortality in the world based on the income level of countries [2022]
  • Advancing maternal survival in the global context: are our strategies working? [2013]

• BMJ Global Health
  • Global and regional estimates of maternal near miss: a systematic review, meta-analysis and experiences with application [2022]

• Global Health: Science and Practice
  • Galvanizing Collective Action to Accelerate Reductions in Maternal and Newborn Mortality and Prevention of Stillbirths [2021]

• Health Policy and Planning
  • Legal issues in the implementation of Maternal Death Surveillance and Response: a scoping review [2024]

• International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics
  • Global health systems strengthening: FIGO's strategic view on reducing maternal and newborn mortality worldwide [2024]

• International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics
  • Thinking beyond maternal mortality: Re-conceptualizing and measuring maternal morbidity [2018]

• JBI Evidence Synthesis
  • Timing of maternal mortality and severe morbidity during the postpartum period: a systematic review [2022]

• Journal of Global Health
  • Recommendations for refining key maternal health policy and finance indicators to strengthen a framework for monitoring the Strategies toward Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality (EPMM) [2021]

• Journal of Medical Internet Research
  • Machine Learning Models to Predict Risk of Maternal Morbidity and Mortality From Electronic Medical Record Data: Scoping Review [2025]

• Journal of Perinatal Medicine
  • Why maternal mortality in the world remains tragedy in low-income countries and shame for high-income ones: will sustainable development goals (SDG) help? [2022]

• Lancet
  • Global, regional, and national levels of maternal mortality, 1990–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015 [2016]

• Lancet Global Health
  • Global and regional causes of maternal deaths 2009-20: a WHO systematic analysis [2025]
  • Effect of maternity care improvement, fertility decline, and contraceptive use on global maternal mortality reduction between 2000 and 2023: results from a decomposition analysis [2025]
  • A global analysis of the determinants of maternal health and transitions in maternal mortality [2024]
  • Maternal mortality, stillbirths, and neonatal mortality: a transition model based on analyses of 151 countries [2023]
  • A call to action: the global failure to effectively tackle maternal mortality rates [2023]

• New England Journal of Medicine
  • Global Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health — So Near and Yet So Far [2013]

• PLoS ONE
  • Measuring social, economic, policy, and health system determinants of maternal health and survival: An urgent global priority [2025]
  • Monitoring maternal near miss/severe maternal morbidity: A systematic review of global practices [2020]

• Reproductive Health
  • Towards elimination of maternal deaths: maternal deaths surveillance and response [2013]

• Statistics in Medicine
  • Estimating misclassification errors in the reporting of maternal mortality in national civil registration vital statistics systems: A Bayesian hierarchical bivariate random walk model to estimate sensitivity and specificity for multiple countries and years with missing data [2022]

• Statistics, Politics and Policy
  • A New Method for Deriving Global Estimates of Maternal Mortality [2012]

• Tropical Medicine & International Health
  • Monitoring maternal and newborn health outcomes globally: a brief history of key events and initiatives [2019]

• U.S. Census Bureau
  • Measuring Maternal Mortality [2022]

• United Nations Children's Fund - UNICEF
  • Maternal mortality

• Vaccine
  • Maternal death: Case definition and guidelines for data collection, analysis, and presentation of immunization safety data [2016]

Iran

• Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal
  • Systematic review and meta-analysis of maternal mortality ratio and related factors in the Islamic Republic of Iran [2023]

• Reproductive Health
  • Determinants and causes of maternal mortality in Iran based on ICD-MM: a systematic review [2019]

Ireland

• Ireland's Health Services
  • Guidelines for the Critically Ill Woman in Obstetrics [2014]

• PLoS ONE
  • The prevalence and persistence of maternal morbidities after first vs. second birth: A prospective cohort study in Ireland [2025]

Italy

• Annali dell'Istituto Superiore di Sanità
  • The way to move beyond the numbers: the lesson learnt from the Italian Obstetric Surveillance System [2019]

Japan

• BMJ Open
  • Current status of pregnancy-related maternal mortality in Japan: a report from the Maternal Death Exploratory Committee in Japan [2016]

Kenya

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Trends in maternal mortality and stillbirths by county in health facility data, Kenya, 2011-2022 [2025]

• Bulletin of the World Health Organization
  • Cost of maternal near miss and potentially life-threatening conditions, Kenya [2021]

Laos

• Nagoya Journal of Medical Science
  • Improving the maternal mortality rate in Lao PDR: 10 years after the publication of the Yang Ye paper in the Nagoya Journal of Medical Science [2023]

Latin America

• International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics
  • Predicting severe maternal outcomes in a network of sentinel sites in Latin-American countries [2023]

• Reproductive Health
  • Maternal near miss and predictive ability of potentially life-threatening conditions at selected maternity hospitals in Latin America [2016]

Latin America and the Caribbean

• BMC Women's Health
  • Trends in maternal mortality in Latin America and the Caribbean: a joinpoint analysis [2025]

• International Journal for Equity in Health
  • Persistent inequities in maternal mortality in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1990-2019 [2024]

• Pan American Health Organization
  • Technical guide for auditing cases of extreme maternal morbidity and developing appropriate responses to reduce maternal near-miss [2025]
  • Recommendations for Establishing a National Maternal Near-miss Surveillance System in Latin America and the Caribbean [2022]
  • Reproductive Health and Healthy Motherhood. Aligning National Legislation with International Human Rights Law [2014]

Liberia

• Scientific African
  • Maternal mortality and the metempsychosis of user fees in Liberia: A mixed-methods analysis [2019]

Low and middle income countries

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Risk factors for postpartum maternal mortality and hospital readmission in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review [2023]
  • Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness (BPCR) interventions to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality in developing countries: systematic review and meta-analysis [2014]
  • Audit-identified avoidable factors in maternal and perinatal deaths in low resource settings: a systematic review [2014]

• BMJ Global Health
  • Learning from success: the main drivers of the maternal and newborn health transition in seven positive-outlier countries and implications for future policies and programmes [2024]
  • Prognostic models for adverse pregnancy outcomes in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review [2019]

• BMJ Open
  • Maternal death surveillance efforts: notification and review coverage rates in 30 low-income and middle-income countries, 2015-2019 [2023]

• Bulletin of the World Health Organization
  • Maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response: a systematic review of qualitative studies [2023]

• Human Resources for Health
  • Systematic review on human resources for health interventions to improve maternal health outcomes: evidence from low- and middle-income countries [2016]

• Journal of Global Health
  • Implementation of maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response and related death review interventions in humanitarian settings: A scoping review [2024]

• Lancet
  • Women's groups practising participatory learning and action to improve maternal and newborn health in low-resource settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis [2013]

• PLoS Medicine
  • Estimating the global impact of poor quality of care on maternal and neonatal outcomes in 81 low- and middle-income countries: A modeling study [2019]

• PLoS ONE
  • Quality of medicines for life-threatening pregnancy complications in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review [2020]
  • What maternal morbidities are and what they mean for women: A thematic analysis of twenty years of qualitative research in low and lower-middle income countries [2019]

• Reproductive Health
  • The relationship between birth intervals and adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes in six low and lower-middle income countries [2020]
  • Maternal mortality in six low and lower-middle income countries from 2010 to 2018: risk factors and trends [2020]

Low-income countries

• Scientific Reports
  • Men's knowledge of obstetrics danger sign and associated factors in low-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis [2025]

Malawi

• BMC Medical Research Methodology
  • Easier said than done!: methodological challenges with conducting maternal death review research in Malawi [2014]

Mali, Senegal

• PLoS ONE
  • Predicting In-Hospital Maternal Mortality in Senegal and Mali [2013]

Mexico

• PLoS ONE
  • Towards an Inclusive and Evidence-Based Definition of the Maternal Mortality Ratio: An Analysis of the Distribution of Time after Delivery of Maternal Deaths in Mexico, 2010-2013 [2016]

Middle East, North Africa

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Maternal mortality in the Middle East and North Africa region - how could countries move towards obstetric transition stage 5? [2022]

Middle-income countries

• Bulletin of the World Health Organization
  • Maternal mortality: near-miss events in middle-income countries, a systematic review [2021]

Moldova

• BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
  • The Moldovan experience of maternal death reviews [2014]

Morocco

• International Journal for Equity in Health
  • Actions on social determinants and interventions in primary health to improve mother and child health and health equity in Morocco [2016]

• PLoS ONE
  • Determinants of Maternal Near-Miss in Morocco: Too Late, Too Far, Too Sloppy? [2015]

• Tropical Medicine & International Health
  • Preventable maternal mortality in Morocco: the role of hospitals [2013]
  • Implementing a maternal mortality surveillance system in Morocco [2013]

Mozambique

• PLoS ONE
  • Mapping maternal mortality rate via spatial zero-inflated models for count data: A case study of facility-based maternal deaths from Mozambique [2018]

Myanmar

• Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition
  • New Politics, an Opportunity for Maternal Health Advancement in Eastern Myanmar: An Integrative Review [2014]

Namibia

• Bulletin of the World Health Organization
  • Maternal near-miss surveillance, Namibia [2020]

• Maternal and Child Health Journal
  • Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths in Namibia, 2018-2019: A Local Approach to Strengthen the Review Process and a Description of Review Findings and Recommendations [2023]

Nepal

• PLoS ONE
  • An Analysis of Factors Linked to the Decline in Maternal Mortality in Nepal [2014]

• Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters
  • Policies and actions to reduce maternal mortality in Nepal: perspectives of key informants [2021]

Netherlands

• Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica
  • Confidential enquiry into maternal deaths in the Netherlands, 2006-2018 [2022]

New Zealand

• BMJ Open
  • Under-reporting of maternal and perinatal adverse events in New Zealand [2015]

Nigeria

• BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
  • Application of maternal near-miss approach to audits of severe maternal complications in a low-resource country [2019]

• International Journal for Equity in Health
  • Poverty and maternal mortality in Nigeria: towards a more viable ethics of modern medical practice [2008]

• PLoS ONE
  • The influence of the social and cultural environment on maternal mortality in Nigeria: Evidence from the 2013 demographic and health survey [2017]

• Reproductive Health
  • Maternal death and obstetric care audits in Nigeria: a systematic review of barriers and enabling factors in the provision of emergency care [2016]

North Korea

• Frontiers in Public Health
  • The Current Status in Obstetrics in North Korea and Strategies for Establishing a Better Healthcare System [2021]

Norway

• Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica
  • An evaluation by the Norwegian Health Care Supervision Authorities of events involving death or injuries in maternity care [2018]

Pakistan

• PLoS ONE
  • Trends in the levels, causes, and risk factors of maternal mortality in Pakistan: A comparative analysis of national surveys of 2007 and 2019 [2025]
  • Demographic, social and health system factors associated with maternal mortality in Pakistan: A nested case-control study [2025]

• Reproductive Health
  • Why are the Pakistani maternal, fetal and newborn outcomes so poor compared to other low and middle-income countries? [2020]

Palestine

• United Nations Population Fund
  • National Maternal Mortality Report 2020 [2022]

Panama

• Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública
  • Maternal mortality in Panama from 1998 to 2022 [2024]

Papua New Guinea

• Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health
  • Maternal deaths and their impact on children in Papua New Guinea [2014]

• Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters
  • Maternal and newborn health indicators in Papua New Guinea – 2008–2018 [2019]

Paraguay

• European Journal of Public Health
  • Maternal Mortality in Paraguay tendencies and risk factors: 2004-2015 [2020]

• Revista del Nacional (Itauguá)
  • Characteristics of maternal mortality in Paraguay (2014-2021) [2025]

Peru

• Revista Peruana de Ginecología y Obstetricia
  • Trends in maternal mortality in Peru 2019 - 2023 [2024]

Republic of Korea

• Frontiers in Public Health
  • How much can we reduce delivery-related medical costs associated with maternal mortality? A nationwide cohort study from 2003 to 2021 [2025]

• Reproductive Health
  • Comparison of global indicators for severe maternal morbidity among South Korean women who delivered from 2003 to 2018: a population-based retrospective cohort study [2022]

Romania

• Archives of the Balkan Medical Union
  • The evolution of maternal mortality in Romania in the last decade, trends and challenges [2021]

Rwanda

• BMJ Open
  • Maternal death audit in Rwanda 2009–2013: a nationwide facility-based retrospective cohort study [2016]

• Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine
  • Factors That Affect Maternal Mortality in Rwanda: A Comparative Study with India and Bangladesh [2022]

Saudi Arabia

• BMJ Open Quality
  • Collaborative improvement project to decrease maternal mortality rate across five hospitals in Saudi Arabia [2022]

Senegal

• Tropical Medicine & International Health
  • Improving survey data on pregnancy-related deaths in low-and middle-income countries: a validation study in Senegal [2015]

Serbia

• Clinical and Experimental Obstetrics & Gynecology
  • Maternal mortality in Serbia - revisited [2019]

Sierra Leone

• Lancet Global Health
  • Child, maternal, and adult mortality in Sierra Leone: nationally representative mortality survey 2018-20 [2022]

Slovakia

• Bratislava Medical Journal
  • Maternal Mortality in Slovakia in the Years 2007–2023 [2025]

South Africa

• BMC Public Health
  • A cross-sectional analysis of the geographic distribution and causes of maternal mortality in South Africa: 2002–2006 [2015]

• South African Medical Journal
  • Every maternal near-miss counts: Need for a national audit in South Africa? A mixed-methods study [2022]

• Statistics South Africa
  • Maternal mortality rate on the decline in SA [2022]

South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa

• PLoS Medicine
  • Direct maternal morbidity and the risk of pregnancy-related deaths, stillbirths, and neonatal deaths in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa: A population-based prospective cohort study in 8 countries [2021]

South-East Asia

• PLoS ONE
  • Factors influencing maternal death in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam countries: A systematic review [2024]

Spain

• BMC Public Health
  • Maternal mortality trends in Spain during the 2000-2018 period: the role of maternal origin [2022]

Sri Lanka

• Reproductive Health
  • Maternal mortality revisited: the application of the new ICD-MM classification system in reference to maternal deaths in Sri Lanka [2014]

Sub-Saharan Africa

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Systematic review of the magnitude and case fatality ratio for severe maternal morbidity in sub-Saharan Africa between 1995 and 2010 [2011]

• Journal of Global Health
  • Causes of maternal mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review of studies published from 2015 to 2020 [2021]

• Lancet Global Health
  • Women's risk of death beyond 42 days post partum: a pooled analysis of longitudinal Health and Demographic Surveillance System data in sub-Saharan Africa [2022]

• PLoS ONE
  • Obstetric admission and maternal mortality in the intensive care unit in Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis [2025]

Sudan

• BMC Public Health
  • A decade of change: maternal mortality trends in Sudan, 2009-2019 [2025]

Suriname

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Maternal mortality audit in Suriname between 2010 and 2014, a reproductive age mortality survey [2017]

• Reproductive Health
  • Classifying maternal deaths in Suriname using WHO ICD-MM: different interpretation by Physicians, National and International Maternal Death Review Committees [2021]
  • Childbirth outcomes and ethnic disparities in Suriname: a nationwide registry-based study in a middle-income country [2020]

Sweden

• Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica
  • Maternal mortality in Sweden 1988–2007: more deaths than officially reported [2013]

Switzerland

• Swiss Medical Weekly
  • Maternal mortality in Switzerland 2005-2014 [2020]

Taiwan

• PLoS ONE
  • Maternal Mortality in Taiwan: A Nationwide Data Linkage Study [2015]

• Taiwanese Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
  • The trend and factors associated with severe maternal morbidity among delivery and postpartum hospitalizations in Taiwan: A nationwide study, 2011-2021 [2024]
  • Pregnancy-associated mortality in Taiwan, 2004–2011 [2016]
  • Underreporting of maternal mortality in Taiwan: A data linkage study [2015]

Tanzania

• Tropical Medicine & International Health
  • Strengths and weaknesses in the implementation of maternal and perinatal death reviews in Tanzania: perceptions, processes and practice [2014]

Thailand

• Population Health Metrics
  • Improving the measurement of maternal mortality in Thailand using multiple data sources [2016]

Tunisia

• European Journal of Public Health
  • Trends in Maternal Mortality Rates in Tunisia, 2019-2023 [2025]

Turkey

• Public Health Nursing
  • Examining expert views on maternal mortality in Turkey: A qualitative study [2024]

Uganda

• International Journal of Health Policy and Management
  • Designed to Fail? Revisiting Uganda's Maternal Health Policies to Understand Policy Design Issues Underpinning Missed Targets for Reduction of Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR): 2000-2015 [2022]

United Kingdom

• Anaesthesia
  • Severe maternal morbidity in Scotland [2022]

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Examining the impact of introducing ICD-MM on observed trends in maternal mortality rates in the UK 2003–13 [2016]

• British Journal of Anaesthesia
  • Saving Mothers’ Lives: reviewing maternal deaths to make motherhood safer: 2006–8: a review [2011]

• British Journal of General Practice
  • Maternal health in pregnancy: messages from the 2014 UK Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Death [2015]

• Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
  • Associations between neighbourhood deprivation, ethnicity and maternal health outcomes in England: a nationwide cohort study using routinely collected healthcare data [2024]

• MBRRACE-UK
  • MBRRACE-UK: Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK

• Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology
  • A national population-based cohort study to investigate inequalities in maternal mortality in the United Kingdom, 2009-17 [2020]

• PLoS ONE
  • Establishing a National Maternal Morbidity Outcome Indicator in England: A Population-Based Study Using Routine Hospital Data [2016]

• Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
  • Managing Events Surrounding a Maternal Death and Supporting the Family and Staff [2024]
  • Understanding the Relationship Between Social Determinants of Health and Maternal Mortality [2022]

United States

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
  • Social and Structural Determinants of Maternal Morbidity and Mortality: An Evidence Map [2023]

• AJP Reports
  • Implementing Obstetric Early Warning Systems [2018]

• American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
  • Severe Maternal Morbidity: Screening and Review [2016]

• American Journal of Epidemiology
  • Rural-Urban Differences in Maternal Mortality Trends in the United States, 1999-2017: Accounting for the Impact of the Pregnancy Status Checkbox [2022]

• American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology
  • Maternal mortality in the United States: are the high and rising rates due to changes in obstetrical factors, maternal medical conditions, or maternal mortality surveillance? [2024]
  • Maternal mortality in the United States: research gaps, opportunities, and priorities [2020]
  • Putting the “M” back in maternal-fetal medicine: A 5-year report card on a collaborative effort to address maternal morbidity and mortality in the United States [2019]

• American Journal of Public Health
  • Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Maternal Mortality in the United States Using Enhanced Vital Records, 2016-2017 [2021]

• Annals of Internal Medicine
  • Initiatives to Reduce Maternal Mortality and Severe Maternal Morbidity in the United States: A Narrative Review [2020]

• Annual Review of Medicine
  • Maternal Mortality in the United States: Trends and Opportunities for Prevention [2023]

• BMC Public Health
  • The public health exposome and pregnancy-related mortality in the United States: a high-dimensional computational analysis [2022]

• BMJ Open
  • Individual- and community-level risk factors for maternal morbidity and mortality among Native American women in the USA: a systematic review [2024]

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • Health E-Stat 100: Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States, 2023 [2025]
  • The Impact of the Pregnancy Checkbox and Misclassification on Maternal Mortality Trends in the United States, 1999-2017 [2020]
  • Vital Signs: Pregnancy-Related Deaths, United States, 2011–2015, and Strategies for Prevention, 13 States, 2013–2017 [2019]
  • Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Pregnancy-Related Deaths — United States, 2007–2016 [2019]
  • Severe Maternal Morbidity

• Frontiers in Public Health
  • Developmental Origins of Pregnancy-Related Morbidity and Mortality in Black U.S. Women [2022]

• International Journal of Maternal and Child Health and AIDS
  • Trends and Social Inequalities in Maternal Mortality in the United States, 1969-2018 [2021]
  • Trends and Racial/Ethnic, Socioeconomic, and Geographic Disparities in Maternal Mortality from Indirect Obstetric Causes in the United States, 1999-2017 [2021]

• JAMA
  • Trends in State-Level Maternal Mortality by Racial and Ethnic Group in the United States [2023]

• JAMA Network Open
  • Trends, Characteristics, and Maternal Morbidity Associated With Unhoused Status in Pregnancy [2023]
  • Trends in Maternal Mortality and Severe Maternal Morbidity During Delivery-Related Hospitalizations in the United States, 2008 to 2021 [2023]
  • Trends in Severe Maternal Morbidity in the US Across the Transition to ICD-10-CM/PCS From 2012-2019 [2022]
  • Trends and Distribution of In-Hospital Mortality Among Pregnant and Postpartum Individuals by Pregnancy Period [2022]
  • Assessment of Incidence and Factors Associated With Severe Maternal Morbidity After Delivery Discharge Among Women in the US [2021]

• Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research
  • Economic burden of maternal mortality in the USA, 2018-2020 [2022]

• Journal of Women's Health
  • U.S. Maternal Mortality Within a Global Context: Historical Trends, Current State, and Future Directions [2021]

• National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
  • Advancing Maternal Health Equity and Reducing Maternal Morbidity and Mortality: Proceedings of a Workshop [2021]

• National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
  • An evaluation of seasonal maternal-neonatal morbidity related to trainee cycles [2022]
  • Frequency of and factors associated with severe maternal morbidity [2014]
  • Maternal Morbidity and Mortality

• Neoreviews
  • Maternal Mortality in the United States: Updates on Trends, Causes, and Solutions [2019]

• Obstetrics & Gynecology
  • An Evidence Map for Social and Structural Determinants for Maternal Morbidity and Mortality: A Systematic Review [2024]
  • Maternal Mortality in the United States: Recent Trends, Current Status, and Future Considerations [2021]
  • Social Determinants of Pregnancy-Related Mortality and Morbidity in the United States: A Systematic Review [2020]
  • Severe Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Among Indigenous Women in the United States [2020]
  • Standardized Severe Maternal Morbidity Review [2014]

• PLoS ONE
  • Age-related disparities in national maternal mortality trends: A population-based study [2025]
  • Improving US maternal mortality reporting by analyzing literal text on death certificates, United States, 2016-2017 [2020]

• Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine
  • Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Position Statement: Maternal mortality review committees [2025]
  • Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Consult Series #55: Counseling women at increased risk of maternal morbidity and mortality [2021]
  • Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Consult Series #54: Assessing the risk of maternal morbidity and mortality [2021]
  • SMFM Special Report: Putting the “M” back in MFM: Addressing education about disparities in maternal outcomes and care [2018]

Uruguay

• International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics
  • Overall and abortion-related maternal mortality rates in Uruguay over the past 25years and their association with policies and actions aimed at protecting women's rights [2016]

WHO

• World Health Organization
  • Trends in maternal mortality 2000 to 2023: estimates by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and UNDESA/Population Division [2025]
  • Strengthening legal and regulatory frameworks for maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response [2024]
  • Maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response: global report on decade of implementation [2024]
  • Trends in maternal mortality 2000 to 2020: estimates by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and UNDESA/Population Division [2023]
  • Maternal mortality measurement: guidance to improve national reporting [2022]
  • Maternal and perinatal death and surveillance and response [2021]
  • Implementation of maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response as part of quality of care efforts for maternal and newborn health: considerations for synergy and alignment [2021]
  • Maternal mortality: Levels and trends 2000 to 2017 [2019]
  • Maternal mortality: Evidence brief [2019]
  • Managing complications in pregnancy and childbirth: a guide for midwives and doctors [2017]
  • Time to respond. A report on the global implementation of Maternal Death Surveillance and Response [2016]
  • Maternal morbidity measurement tool pilot: study protocol [2016]
  • Trends in maternal mortality: 1990 to 2015: Estimates by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and the United Nations Population Division [2015]
  • Strategies toward ending preventable maternal mortality (EPMM) [2015]
  • Targets and strategies for ending preventable maternal mortality: consensus statement [2014]
  • Obstetric transition: the pathway towards ending preventable maternal deaths [2014]
  • Maternal near-miss audits to improve quality of care [2014]
  • Indirect causes of severe adverse maternal outcomes: a secondary analysis of the WHO Multicountry Survey on Maternal and Newborn Health [2014]
  • Advanced maternal age and pregnancy outcomes: a multicountry assessment [2014]
  • WHO guidance for measuring maternal mortality from a census [2013]
  • Maternal Death Surveillance and Response [2013]
  • Evaluating the quality of care for severe pregnancy complications: the WHO near-miss approach for maternal health [2011]
  • Countdown to 2015 decade report (2000-2010) with country profiles: taking stock of maternal, newborn and child survival [2010]
  • Achieving millennium development goal 5: target 5A and 5B on reducing maternal mortality and achieving universal access to reproductive health [2009]
  • Beyond the numbers : reviewing maternal deaths and complications to make pregnancy safer [2004]
  • SDG Target 3.1 Maternal mortality
  • Maternal mortality: Fact sheet
  • Maternal mortality ratio (per 100 000 live births)
  • Maternal mortality (Global Health Observatory)
  • Maternal deaths
  • Maternal and newborn data
  • Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response
  • Maternal Mortality in 2030
  • Ending preventable maternal mortality (EPMM)

WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region

• WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region
  • Improving maternal health to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: a youth lens [2008]

WHO South-East Asia Region

• WHO South-East Asia Region
  • Towards maternal and newborn survival in the WHO South-East Asia Region: Implementation experience of the WHO SEARO model of point-of-care quality improvement (POCQI) [2020]
  • Strengthening Country Capacity on Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response: Report of a South-East Asia Regional Meeting , 16-18 February 2016, Maldives [2016]

Zambia

• PLoS ONE
  • Impact of Pregnancy-Related Deaths on Female Life Expectancy in Zambia: Application of Life Table Techniques to Census Data [2015]

• Population Health Metrics
  • Rural-urban differentials in pregnancy-related mortality in Zambia: estimates using data collected in a census [2015]

Zimbabwe

• BMC Public Health
  • Changes in causes of pregnancy-related and maternal mortality in Zimbabwe 2007-08 to 2018-19: findings from two reproductive age mortality surveys [2022]

• BMJ Global Health
  • Maternal mortality decline in Zimbabwe, 2007/2008 to 2018/2019: findings from mortality surveys using civil registration, vital statistics and health system data [2022]

{Related topics}

• Topic
  • Stillbirth, perinatal mortality, neonatal mortality
  • Obstetrics, perinatology