Assessing the Reporting System of Maternal Mortality: A Case Study of a Health Care Centre in the Asuogyaman District, Ghana

Abstract

An estimated 287, 000 maternal deaths occurred worldwide in 2010, most of which were in low-income and middle-income countries and these were avoidable. Reduction of maternal mortality has long been a global health priority and is a target in the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) framework. The aim of this study was to access the reporting system of maternal death at a Health Care Centre in the Asuogyaman District, Ghana. In this study, we sought to employ both qualitative and quantitative methods using respondents from health facility as well as at the communities. This was carried out from May to Augusts 2004. Data were collected with the help of questionnaires interviews augmented by in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and personal observation. Results of the study showed that, majority (90%) of respondents were aware of the need for proper documentation of maternal deaths. However all the maternal death folders reviewed from the VRA Hospital revealed the absence of auditing of such records. It also became clear during the interviews that, some of the senior managers could not specify the appropriate procedures in proper auditing of maternal deaths as well as the correct time required for this exercise.  Much to our surprise, all the community based volunteers were aware somehow of maternal mortality audit.  On the issue of safe-motherhood training, the study showed that, majority of the respondents (80%) had been trained in safe motherhood techniques. These included (75%) of all the doctors and (65%) of all midwifes. Our findings was confirmed by the administrators of the Health Care Centre (VRA Hospital). Results of the study showed that, although majority of health care workers especially from the health care system in the district were aware of maternal death, there were no proper documentation of these. However from the point of view of some of the major findings it could be deduced that there were indirect reasons to conclude that the low maternal mortality in the district was related to poor records keeping of maternal death folders.

Key words: Mortality, Safe-motherhood, OPD, Maternal, Pueperum, Pregnancy