[Evaluation of procedures for identifying maternal deaths]

The main problems identified during maternal mortality surveillance in Pernambuco State, Brazil, were low coverage and poor quality of data, as well as the inadequacy of data-collection instruments. Based on these findings, a new instrument called the Confidential Form for Reporting Deaths of Reproductive-Age Women was developed, and later an evaluation was conducted on the available procedures for distinguishing maternal deaths among female deaths. The RAMOS method, using the new questionnaire, was applied in Camaragibe (a city in Greater Metropolitan Recife) based on the female deaths recorded in 2000. According to the results, this method, using the new form, showed improved recording of socio-demographic and female mortality variables as compared to both the maternal mortality surveillance conducted by the Municipal Epidemiological Department and the death certificate system. This finding reinforces the need to improve maternal mortality surveillance in the study area, taking into account the RAMOS method and the new instrument.