Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2018 Oct 1;18(1):748.
doi: 10.1186/s12913-018-3559-y.

Role of maternity waiting homes in the reduction of maternal death and stillbirth in developing countries and its contribution for maternal death reduction in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Tegene Legese Dadi  1   2 , Bayu Begashaw Bekele  3 , Habtamu Kebebe Kasaye  4 , Tadesse Nigussie  3
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Role of maternity waiting homes in the reduction of maternal death and stillbirth in developing countries and its contribution for maternal death reduction in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Tegene Legese Dadi et al. BMC Health Serv Res. .

Abstract

Background: Every family expect to have a healthy mother and new born baby after pregnancy. Especially for parents, pregnancy is a time of great anticipation. Access to maternal and child health care insures safer pregnancy and its outcome. MWHs is one the strategy. The objective was to synthesize the best available evidence on effectiveness of maternity waiting homes on the reduction of maternal mortality and stillbirth in developing countries.

Methods: Before conducting this review non-occurrences of the same review is verified. To avoid introduction of bias because of errors, two independent reviewers appraised each article. Maternal death and stillbirth were the primary outcomes. Review Manager 5 were used to produce a random-effect meta-analysis. Grade Pro software were used to produce risk of bias summary and summary of findings.

Result: In developing countries, maternity waiting homes users were 80% less likely to die than non-users (OR = 0. 20, 95% CI [0.08, 0.49]) and there was 73% less occurrence of stillbirth among users (OR = 0.27, 95% CI [0.09, 0.82]). In Ethiopia, there was a 91% reduction of maternal death among maternity waiting homes users unlike non-users (OR = 0.09, 95% CI [0.04, 0.19]) and it contributes to the reduction of 83% stillbirth unlike non-users (OR = 0.17, 95% CI [0.05, 0.58]).

Conclusion: Maternity waiting home contributes more than 80% to the reduction of maternal death among users in developing countries and Ethiopia. Its contribution for reduction of stillbirth is good. More than 70% of stillbirth is reduced among the users of maternity waiting homes. In Ethiopia maternity waiting homes contributes to the reduction of more than two third of stillbirths.

Keywords: Developing countries; Ethiopia; MWHs; Maternal death; Maternal mortality; Maternity waiting homes; Stillbirth.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

We declare no competing interest.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
flow chart of study selected
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Effect of MWHs on maternal death in developing countries
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Effect of MWHs on maternal death in Ethiopia
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Effect of MWHs on stillbirth in developing countries
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Effect of MWHs on stillbirth in developing countries removing the effect of JKelly et al. 2010 and Pia Poovan et al. 1990
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Effect of MWHs on stillbirth in Ethiopia
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Effect of MWHs on early neonatal mortality in developing countries
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. WHO. Maternity waiting homes: a review of expereinces. Geneva: WHO; 1996. Available from: http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/maternal_perinatal_he....
    1. WHO. Maternity waiting homes: a review of expereinces. Geneva:WHO; 1996.
    1. WHO . WHO recommendations on health promotion interventions for maternal and newborn health. Geneva: WHO; 2015. pp. 24–27. - PubMed
    1. Legese T, Abdulahi M, Dirar A. Risk factors of maternal death in Jimma University specialized Hospital : a matched case control study. Am J Public Heal Res. 2016;4(4):120–127.
    1. Vermeiden T, Stekelenburg J. Maternity waiting homes as part of an integrated program for maternal and neonatal health improvements: Women’s lives are worth saving. J Midwifery Womens Health United States. 2017;62(2):151–154. doi: 10.1111/jmwh.12618. - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms