Saving mothers giving life: Maternal mortality. Phase 1 monitoring and evaluation report.

Saving Mothers Giving Life (SMGL) is a 5-year initiative designed to aggressively reduce deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth through a comprehensive approach that strengthens maternal health services in high mortality settings. The Phase 1 pilot year of the initiative resulted in sharp reductions in maternal mortality in the eight pilot districts in Uganda and Zambia. To identify maternal deaths in the four SMGL-supported districts the SMGL team in Uganda conducted baseline and endline Reproductive Age Mortality Studies (RAMOS). These studies identified all deaths of women of reproductive age that occurred in the 12 months before (baseline) and during (endline) the 12 months of Phase 1. To document change in maternal mortality during Phase 1 of the SMGL initiative the Zambia SMGL team reviewed medical records in health facilities in SMGL-supported districts. These records were supplemented by information about facility deaths from a census conducted shortly before Phase 1 began (baseline data) and from pregnancy tracking conducted by community key informants.