Perinatal mortality

Rapid Mortality Surveillance Report

Published by: 
Medical Research Council

A Rapid Mortality Surveillance (RMS) system was established to monitor the trend in the number of deaths recorded on the national population register at a time when there was a substantial time lag in the cause-of-death reports being produced by Stats SA. This report presents an analysis of the RMS data and provides empirical estimates of the mortality-based high-level indicators for Outputs 1 and 2 of the health-related outcomes of the NSDA to highlight the significant changes in mortality currently taking place in South Africa. By adjusting for known bias in the RMS data, it is possible to provide information about these key indicators two years sooner than the published vital registration data.

4 Key Components of a Successful Perinatal Audit

Volume: 
1
Series Name: 
Kwik Skwiz
Published by: 
Health Systems Trust
All available evidence points to the importance of an effective audit process in improving the quality of maternal health services and lowering the Maternal Mortality and Perinatal Mortality Rates. The audit process can be located at the district or the sub-district level, and usually takes place in the District Hospital. What are the key steps to implementing an effective audit process? This publication aims to answer this question by looking at the four crucial activities which comprise an effective perinatal audit process.

Audit of Perinatal Mortality and Acute Morbidity in Northern KwaZulu-Natal

Published by: 
Health Systems Trust
Perinatal mortality rates have long been used as an indicator of the standard of maternal and newborn care. Their importance in this regard is undisputed. Rates can be as low as 9/1000 births in some developed countries but are considerably higher in the developing world. Information from rural South Africa is limited and detailed analysis is made difficult by problems of isolation, poor communications, staff shortages and often, incomplete record keeping.

Obstetric Services

Series Name: 
HST Update
Published by: 
Health Systems Trust
Like most health care in South Africa, maternity services range from a highly sophisticated, consumer centred service probably equal to the best in the world, to an abysmally low standard of care or no care at all. It would be useful to be able to quantify this standard in terms of the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR), however in the First Interim Report on Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Death (reviewed in September Update) the national MMR was not calculated because the data are incomplete. However data from 25 hospitals in Kwazulu-Natal shows a MMR of 144 per 100 000 whilst figures from the Western Cape (Peninsula Maternal and Neonatal Service) are 36 for coloureds and 63 for blacks. The WHO estimates are 23 for Europe and 630 for Africa.