An assessment of the maternal death notification system in Zimbabwe--2006.

Objective: To determine the completeness and usefulness of the maternal death notification system in Zimbabwe for the year 2006.

Methods: As part of the Zimbabwe Maternal and Perinatal Mortality Survey (ZMPMS) maternal death notification forms lodged at the national and provincial levels were collected and analyzed. Data was entered into Stata version 6. The forms were also given to two clinician reviewers who assessed the quality of the information on the forms.

Results: A total of 364 forms were found at the provincial level. Of these, 56% had had copies forwarded to national level. Information on antenatal booking status was available on 84% of the forms. The forms had been completed by ten different grades of health worker and cause of death was entered on 80% of the forms. Information on whether the death had been potentially avoidable was entered on 68% of the forms. Five different versions of the maternal death notification form were found in the field and a significant proportion of the forms were missing important demographic variables.

Conclusion: The maternal death notification system for Zimbabwe was found to be incomplete and not standardized.