Two years maternal mortality in Matebeleland north Province, Zimbabwe

To describe timeliness and completeness of maternal mortality notifications after the introduction of a revised national notification form in 1998, as well as socio-demographic and obstetric variables and causes of maternal deaths.

Retrospective descriptive study.

Seven districts in Matebeleland North province.

95 maternal death notifications from 1 August 1998 to 31 July 2000.

Delay in submission and completeness of reports, age, marital status, religion, reproductive history, booking and referral status, duration and outcome of pregnancy, place of death, cause of death.

92/95 notifications were true maternal deaths, 86% were notified within 48 hours and 79% were complete, 74% of the deaths took place in a health facility. Mean age of the women was 27.8 years, mean parity 3.0. Sixty percent had booked. The five main causes of death were obstetric haemorrhage (26%), malaria (24%), immune deficiency syndrome (13%), abortion (11%) and eclampsia (8%). The maternal mortality ratio per 100,000 reported home and institutional live births ranged from 155 to 532 per district.

There is under reporting of maternal mortality in some districts, although from 1997 to 2000 a 200% increase in reporting was seen. Timeliness and completeness of reporting was satisfactory. With the exception of a high contribution from malaria the causes of maternal mortality in Matebeleland North province are similar to those reported elsewhere in Zimbabwe.