OFF TO A RAPID START - APPRAISING MATERNAL MORTALITY AND SERVICES

Enthusiasm for 'doing something about Safe Motherhood' has been expres sed in many developing countries, but priorities for action cannot be identified without adequately assessing a country's maternal mortality situation. It is also important, however, to avoid embarking on time- consuming research measuring indicators which are not essential to dev eloping programs. After presenting an overview of ideal Safe Motherhoo d program components, the paper lists a series of questions which serv e as an assessment tool for collecting useful information and for iden tifying data sources on maternal mortality and health. The framework f or these questions centers around the following steps: (1) gaining an overview of health policy relevant to maternal mortality and morbiditi es; (2) assessing the magnitude and causes of maternal mortality and m orbidity, and the characteristics of groups at particular risk; and (3 ) assessing the available inputs in terms of services (access, quality , providers, what is provided at various tiers, etc.) and in terms of the culture and existing resources and groups.