Graham W J, Ahmed S, Stanton C, Abou-Zahr Cl, Campbell O M R
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Aberdeen, UK.
BMC Med. 2008 May 26;6:12. doi: 10.1186/1741-7015-6-12.
There is currently an unprecedented expressed need and demand for estimates of maternal mortality in developing countries. This has been stimulated in part by the creation of a Millennium Development Goal that will be judged partly on the basis of reductions in maternal mortality by 2015.
Since the launch of the Safe Motherhood Initiative in 1987, new opportunities for data capture have arisen and new methods have been developed, tested and used. This paper provides a pragmatic overview of these methods and the optimal measurement strategies for different developing country contexts.
There are significant recent advances in the measurement of maternal mortality, yet also room for further improvement, particularly in assessing the magnitude and direction of biases and their implications for different data uses. Some of the innovations in measurement provide efficient mechanisms for gathering the requisite primary data at a reasonably low cost. No method, however, has zero costs. Investment is needed in measurement strategies for maternal mortality suited to the needs and resources of a country, and which also strengthen the technical capacity to generate and use credible estimates.
Ownership of information is necessary for it to be acted upon: what you count is what you do. Difficulties with measurement must not be allowed to discourage efforts to reduce maternal mortality. Countries must be encouraged and enabled to count maternal deaths and act.
目前，发展中国家对孕产妇死亡率估计数有着前所未有的迫切需求。这在一定程度上是由于千年发展目标的设立，该目标部分将依据到2015年孕产妇死亡率的降低情况来评判。
自1987年发起安全孕产倡议以来，出现了新的数据收集机会，并且开发、测试和使用了新的方法。本文对这些方法以及不同发展中国家背景下的最佳测量策略进行了务实概述。
近期在孕产妇死亡率测量方面取得了重大进展，但仍有进一步改进的空间，尤其是在评估偏差的程度和方向及其对不同数据用途的影响方面。测量方面的一些创新提供了以合理低成本收集必要原始数据的有效机制。然而，没有一种方法成本为零。需要对适合一个国家需求和资源的孕产妇死亡率测量策略进行投资，这些策略还应加强生成和使用可靠估计数的技术能力。
信息要想得到落实，信息所有权是必要的：你所统计的就是你所采取行动的依据。绝不能因测量困难而阻碍降低孕产妇死亡率的努力。必须鼓励并促使各国统计孕产妇死亡情况并采取行动。
