Pattern of Maternal Mortality in A General Hospital, South Western Nigeria.

High maternal mortality has become intractable problem of developing countries despite global efforts at its reduction in the last three decades. Reports form various parts of Nigeria mostly from Teaching Hospitals also confirmed hig maternal mortality. This work on patterns of maternal death from 2002 to 2009 was undertaken to: i. Document the experience in a general hospital. ii. Provide facility baseline data against which trends can be measured in the future. Maternal Mortality ratio over the period was 214 per 100,000 live births. The leading causes of maternal death are Haemorrhage, Induced abortion. Eclampsia and Infectin. Type III delay, low literacy level and low utilization of antenatal services were associated with maternal death. There is need to put in place a sustainable, timely and sfae blood transfusion, obstetric surgical interventions and improved utilization of quality antenatal services in order to meet MDG 5 that is reduction of maternal mortality in a general hospital set up. Keywords: Maternal Mortality, Audit, Haemorrhage, Induce abortion, illiteracy.