Quality of care in reproductive health programmes: concepts, assessments, barriers and improvements--an overview.

At the end of the first decade of the Safe Motherhood Initiative there are still, at a minimum, 1600 women dying every day from complications of pregnancy and childbirth: this is an intolerable human tragedy. The fact that there are almost 100,000 more maternal deaths annually now compared to 10 years ago, 585,000, must present a challenge to every citizen in society. Policy makers, health professionals, social workers, religious leaders, human-rights advocates and the media all have a responsibility to ask themselves: 'What can I do?' All have a role in affecting quality reproductive-health services, which are essential for the reduction of maternal mortality and morbidity, and are an intrinsic human right. The midwife is the obvious catalyst and linch-pin for this effort in the fabric of society. Three papers will address the issues of quality of care in reproductive-health programmes with particular emphasis on safe motherhood. This, the first, article describes the concepts of quality of care in reproductive-health programmes, the determinants of quality improvement, assessment tools for service quality, barriers to quality of care and quality improvement together with examples from relevant countries. The second article will address education issues relative to quality of care, and the third will describe the monitoring and evaluation of quality of care with relevant indicators and project results.