The promotion of maternal health and mortality reduction is of worldwide importance, and constitutes a vital part of the UN Millennium Development Goals. The highest maternal mortality rates are in developing countries, where global and regional initiatives are needed to improve the systems and...

This chapter provides an overview of maternal and perinatal health in developing countries and presents a synopsis of the subsequent chapters in this book. Maternal deaths represent only a fraction of the burden of ill health and disability faced by millions of women and newborns as a consequence...

Six million babies die each year either as late fetal deaths in the last trimester or the first month of life (neonatal deaths); 98% occur in developing countries and 75% in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, which is also where 87% of global maternal deaths occur. Between 1995 and 2008,...

A functioning health system is crucial ucial for maternal health programmes to achieve their goals of improving maternal and perinatal health. The six essential building blocks of a health system are service delivery, health workforce, information, equipment and supplies, financing and leadership...

The cost of accessing maternity care in low and middle income countries falls heavily on users, contributing to the low uptake of key services such as deliveries in health facilities and limited access to emergency obstetric care. This is a particular challenge for poor households. Different...

To ensure adequate coverage of care for maternal and perinatal health goals, maternity services (of good quality) must be made available. The availability of maternity services is dependent upon the health system and cannot be planned in isolation. Clear policies which draw upon principles of the...

Demand side interventions are necessary to increase use of maternity services. Factors that affect demand include knowledge of danger signs in pregnancy and childbirth; financial, geographical and social access to health care; quality of care and the gendered norms and values around maternal...

Definitions of quality of care vary, but all recognize the multidimensional nature of quality. Choosing a suitable quality of care framework should be driven by the purpose of assessing quality of care, the setting in which quality improvements are planned, the nature of the interventions and the...