Determinants of Maternal Mortality: The Case of Nine South-Asian Countries

Abstract

According to World Health Organization (WHO) maternal mortality is “the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any causes related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes”. According to WHO each year about 210 million women become pregnant and about 830 die every day. Although the South Asian region has crossed many obstacles in the fight to improve maternal health, the region is still known to exhibit some of higher maternal mortality rates in the world. This study is focused on examining the determinants of maternal mortality and their significance in the South Asian region using panel analysis for the time period 1990-2015. Nine South Asian countries are used in this analysis. The nine South Asian countries are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Thailand, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Maldives and Sri Lanka. A random effect panel analysis reveals that female literacy, female labor force participation, and births attended by skilled health staff are all negatively associated with maternal mortality. Policy goals must target the availability and standard of education, and healthcare provisions for women, in the hopes to bring improvements to maternal health.,