Maternal mortality in baghdad teaching hospital

Background: Maternal deaths is the death of a women while pregnant or within 42days 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 cause. Objective: To study causes of maternal mortality in Baghdad teaching hospital and the possible measures that may be taken to reduce mortality rate. Study design: A retrospective study. Setting: The study was carried out in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Baghdad teaching hospital for the period 1st of January to end of December 2013. Method: A retrospective study carried out on 8 died women, who referred to Baghdad teaching hospital with serious morbidity, 6 of them delivered by CS and 2 of them delivered vaginally, each case studied in depth to determine the most likely cause of death. Result: The total maternal deaths for Baghdad Teaching hospital in 2013 were 8 women and the live births were 10488; as a result, the maternal mortality ratio per 100000 live births was 76.3, many Factors analyzed included the sociodemographic characteristics of the women who died the main causes of death, pattern of health-seeking behavior for antenatal care / delivery, and place of labor and delivery. There is statistically significant difference for some of these factors as between employment and unemployment also there is significant difference between vaginal and cesarean delivery. Conclusion: Major causes of deaths in Baghdad teaching hospital was hemorrhage, as agreed by WHO estimates of causes of maternal death. This provide stimulus for health providers, hospital managers ,individuals and government to maintain downward trends in our maternal mortality ratios to meet the expectation of the millennium goal of reduction of 75% in maternal deaths in 2015.