Publication Title: Bulletin of the World Health Organization

Pages: 418-425B

Abstract: To what extent does surviving a near-miss obstetric complication mean that a maternal death has actually been averted? Our aim was to investigate maternal mortality in the 4 years after hospital discharge following a near-miss complication in Burkina Faso. We used data from a longitudinal, mixed-methods, cohort study to describe patterns of mortality and analysed the medical, social and health-care-related causes of death after near-miss complications. Finally, we considered the implications of our study findings for strategies that promote safe motherhood.