ArticleBMJ open2015
Community-linked maternal death review (CLMDR) to measure and prevent maternal mortality: a pilot study in rural Malawi.
Article in BMJ open, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Tracking and appraising maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response implementation in Nigeria: a historical timeline and policy analysis.Reproductive health · 2025Pooled it
- Methods to measure effects of social accountability interventions in reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health programs: systematic review and critique.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2020Pooled it
- Emergency Transportation Interventions for Reducing Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review.Annals of global health · 2020Pooled it
- Community engagement in maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response: a realist review.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Review
- Institutionalising community participation in decision-making in maternal and newborn health services in low-and middle-income countries: An analysis from 102 national health ministries.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Incompleteness and Misclassification of Maternal Deaths in Zimbabwe: Data from Two Reproductive Age Mortality Surveys, 2007-2008 and 2018-2019.Journal of epidemiology and global health · 2024Article
- Amenable Mortality in Children under 5: An Indicator for Identifying Inequalities in Healthcare Delivery: A Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Article
- Understanding communication in community engagement for maternal and newborn health programmes in low- and middle-income countries: a realist review.Health policy and planning · 2023Article
- Challenges faced by midwives in the implementation of facility-based maternal death reviews in Malawi.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2023Article
- What's in a name? Unpacking 'CommunityBMJ global health · 2023Article
- Review of maternal death audits in refugee camps in UNHCR East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes Region, 2017-2019.International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics · 2023Article
- Pilot of a Low-Cost Elementary School Handwashing Intervention in Bangladesh: Acceptability, Feasibility, and Potential for Sustainability.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2021Article
- Exploring community support on safe motherhood: A case of Lilongwe District, Malawi.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2021Article
- Maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review of implementation factors.Health policy and planning · 2021Article
- Community surveillance and response to maternal and child deaths in low- and middle-income countries: A scoping review.PloS one · 2021Article
- Engaging community health workers in maternal and infant death identification in Khayelitsha, South Africa: a pilot study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2020Article
- The development of a new accountability measurement framework and tool for global health initiatives.Health policy and planning · 2020Article
- Assessing Implementation of Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response in Rwanda.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn Malawi, maternal mortality remains high. Existing maternal death reviews fail to adequately review most deaths, or capture those that occur outside the health system. We assessed the value of community involvement to improve capture and response to community maternal deaths.
methodsWe designed and piloted a community-linked maternal death review (CLMDR) process in Mchinji District, Malawi, which partnered community and health facility stakeholders to identify and review maternal deaths and generate actions to prevent future deaths. The CLMDR process involved five stages: community verbal autopsy, community and facility review meetings, a public meeting and bimonthly reviews involving both community and facility representatives.
resultsThe CLMDR process was found to be comparable to a previous research-driven surveillance system at identifying deaths in Mchinji District (population 456,500 in 2008). 52 maternal deaths were identified between July 2011 and June 2012, 27 (52%) of which would not have been identified without community involvement. Based on district estimates of population (500,000) and crude birth rate (35 births per 1000 population), the maternal mortality ratio was around 300 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Of the 41 cases that started the CLMDR process, 28 (68%) completed all five stages. We found the CLMDR process to increase the quantity of information available and to involve a wider range of stakeholders in maternal death review (MDR). The process resulted in high rates of completion of community-planned actions (82%), and district hospital (67%) and health centre (65%) actions to prevent maternal deaths.
conclusionsCLMDR is an important addition to the established forms of MDR. It shows potential as a maternal death surveillance system, and may be applicable to similar contexts with high maternal mortality.
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