Abstract
Background & Aim: Maternal mortality ratio for sub- Saharan Africa in 2010 was estimated to be about 600 per 100,000 live births, which is approximately higher than what is obtainable in advanced countries. To this end, several community-based interventions have been put in place by governments and developmental partners in the region to address the situation. This review aimed to seek evidence from existing literature on the level of effectiveness of these interventions in improving maternal health outcomes in the region. The literature search process resulted in retrieval of six full text studies that were written in English, published between 2000 and 2019 and were focused on intervention based at the community level which resulted in the reduction of maternal deaths in some sub-Saharan African countries. The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) tool was used to critically review retrieved literature.
 Findings: Findings from the articles reviewed show that community based interventions with direct reduction on maternal mortality were implemented in Ethiopia and Nigeria and were effective since maternal mortality declined by 64% and 43.5% respectively. Other community based interventions did not directly address reduction in maternal mortality but rather addressed leading causes of maternal mortality such as home and unskilled birth attendance, low Ante-Natal Care (ANC) & Post-Natal Care (PNC) services utilization, Eclampsia, delay in accessing care and Postpartum Hemorrhage (PPH). Such interventions were implemented in Nigeria, Zambia, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo and were proved to be effective in reducing maternal mortality.
 Conclusions and Recommendations: Based on the literatures reviewed, it was concluded that community based interventions were effective in reducing maternal mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa. The following recommendations were made based on gaps observed in the implementation of some interventions. Introduction of emergency transport scheme in countries where they do not exist as despite the existence of maternity waiting homes and dedicated maternity ambulances in Zambia, many expectant mothers still had difficulty reaching the health facilities in time to deliver, Engagement and training of more health workers so as to avoid human resources challenges that may be associated with increased demand for health facility deliveries.
Highlights
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal three is targeted at the reduction of maternal deaths to about seventy maternal deaths per hundred thousand live births by 2030 [1]
According to [6] report, about ninety-nine percent of maternal deaths was recorded in the fifty-three nations classified as low income countries from their gross national per capita income averaging US$900 or even less, and more than sixty percent are in Sub-Saharan Africa
Increase in the number of communities with trained SMAG from 47% to 70% the number of women that accessed birth preparedness messages from a SMAG increased by eighteen percent 10% increase in Skilled Birth Attendance Post-Natal Care increased by 17% 43.5% decrease in the Maternal Mortality Ratio Decrease in the case fatality rate for eclampsia by eighty percent case fatality rate for Post-delivery bleeding declined by 82% 30% declined in prevalence of PPH 19,811 women benefited from the Emergency Transport Scheme (ETS) program
Summary
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal three is targeted at the reduction of maternal deaths to about seventy maternal deaths per hundred thousand live births by 2030 [1] This suggest that 342,900 (confidence interval 302,100-394,300) women died globally in 2008, and that 6 nations, namely; Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Uganda contributed to more than fifty percent of these deaths [2]. Maternal mortality ratio for sub- Saharan Africa in 2010 was estimated to be about 600 per 100,000 live births, which is approximately higher than what is obtainable in advanced countries. To this end, several community-based interventions have been put in place by governments and developmental partners in the region to address the situation. Findings: Findings from the articles reviewed show that community based interventions with direct reduction on maternal mortality were implemented in Ethiopia and Nigeria and were effective since
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