Avoidable Factors Contributing to Maternal Deaths in Turkey

Abstract

Women’s deaths during pregnancy or 42 days after the termination of pregnancy are called maternal deaths. For developing countries, maternal deaths continue to be significant in number. This study represents the avoidable factors contributing to maternal deaths in Turkey using the results of the National Maternal Mortality Study conducted in 2005. According to this nationally representative study, the maternal mortality ratio is 29 per 100,000 live births which is lower than for all regions of the developing world, and at about the same level as those of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and East Asia. In this study, avoidable factors are categorized into four groups: household and community factors, health service provider factors, health service supply factors and other avoidable factors. The results indicate two striking findings. Firstly, the significant impact of household and community level factors on maternal mortality compared to the impact of health service providers and health supply factors. This finding indicates that women’s position in their community and in their household is the most problematic issue when it comes to preventing maternal deaths. The second striking result of this study is that there exists a clear need to adopt different strategies for the elimination of maternal deaths in different localities and regions. Although the impact of health service supply factors on maternal mortality were limited among the avoidable factors, the problems of reaching health facilities due to a lack of transportation and long distances between home and the health facility were frequently mentioned obstacles in rural areas.