Off to a rapid start: appraising maternal mortality and services.

Enthusiasm for 'doing something about Safe Motherhood' has been expressed 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 developing programs. After presenting an overview of ideal Safe Motherhood program components, the paper lists a series of questions which serve as an assessment tool for collecting useful information and for identifying data sources on maternal mortality and health. The framework for these questions centers around the following steps: (1) gaining an overview of health policy relevant to maternal mortality and morbidities; (2) assessing the magnitude and causes of maternal mortality and morbidity, 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.