The overall objective of the PhD thesis is to measure and compare maternal and neonatal mortality and obstetric services through community- and facility-based methods in southern Ethiopia. Yaliso Yaya used four different methods to measure maternal mortality:
- A prospective community-based birth registry managed by health extension workers in 75 rural villages in three districts in south Ethiopia (population 421 639)
- A household survey conducted in 6 572 households in 15 randomly selected rural villages in the district of Bonke, with questions about pregnancy and birth outcomes in the last five years
- A household survey among 8 503 adult siblings using the sisterhood method
- A facility-based review of records in all 63 health centres and three hospitals in Gamo Gofa zone.
Neonatal mortality was measured with the second method, and emergency obstetric services were assessed through the facility-based review.
The thesis is based on a thorough and systematic registration of adverse events during several years, using multiple methods. This allows validation of estimates, and it presents detailed and precise information about maternal mortality rates from rural south Ethiopia.
A special focus of the work is on the finding that community based health workers (Health Extension Workers) can be used to generate maternal mortality data, thus alleviating the chronic problem of unavailability of valid and timely mortality data.
The PhD thesis can be downloaded here.