Eliminating maternal deaths in Burkina Faso: Integration of MDSR into existing surveillance system.

To reduce maternal mortality and improve the timely notification of maternal deaths the Burkina Faso Ministry of Health (MOH) in January 2012 introduced the national Maternal Death Surveillance and Response (MDSR) system and guidelines. MDSR was integrated into the existing National Health Information System and the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) program. The integration of MDSR into the existing IDSR system has contributed to its sustainability and success; however challenges remain in improving the quality of MDSR reporting. Often reporting is delayed in remote hard-to-reach communities which are located outside of a telephone network or far from a CSPS (centre de sante et de promotion sociale equals to a primary helath care centre). To address these issues the MOH and in-country stakeholders continue to strengthen the notification analysis and utilization of the surveillance data at all levels of the health system for improved decision making. This requires ongoing capacity reinforcement and training of all health agents particularly those at the CSPS and community members to ensure the prompt reporting of suspected cases of maternal death. Since implementation of the national MDSR system began 1746 maternal deaths have been reported to the national level in Burkina Faso between 2012 and 2014 demonstrating improvements in overall maternal death reporting. Moreover real-time reporting has improved both the availability of information subsequent analysis and decision-making allowing the MOH to appropriately allocate the necessary resources for improving maternal and newborn health. For example the MOH has leveraged MDSR data to address stockouts of essential commodities for facilities conducted in-service emergency obstetric and newborn care training in facilities with high case fatality rates and procured surgical equipment for facilities that were in need. As a result the country has experienced marked reductions in reported cases of maternal deaths since 2012. (Excerpts)