Maternal mortality in rural communities of Illubabor, southwestern Ethiopia: as estimated by the "sisterhood method".

In this study, the "sisterhood method", a new indirect technique, utilizing a cross-sectional survey by retrospective recall for deriving population-based estimates of maternal mortality for rural communities, was used in rural Illubabor region, Southwestern Ethiopia, in December 1991. The findings indicate a lifetime risk of maternal mortality of 0.0426, or 1 in 23 women; approximating a maternal mortality ratio of 570 per 100,000 live-births. The communities experience high maternal mortality which is compounded by high fertility as reflected by the total fertility rate of 7.6. The method can readily be applied to our settings to estimate the lifetime risk of maternal mortality and derive the maternal mortality ratio. In order to generate awareness, support planning and intervention strategies, community-based estimates of maternal mortality will remain a priority where vital events registration is non-existent and health service statistics are not reliable.