Using innovative software solutions to address challenges with maternal deaths; Sharing experiences over a 2 year period from the national program in India

Maternal Death Review (MDR) is an important strategy to improve the quality of obstetric care and reduce maternal morbidity and mortality. MDR provides detailed information on various factors at community, facility, district, regional and national levels that influence maternal health outcomes. A key challenge is to analyse paper based data related to MDR, collected through facility and community based tools. The database of 10500 records of maternal deaths in India continues to expand on a daily basis, with data elements repeated across tools, making analysis of data difficult to manage and inform program and policy. It is critical to have a standardized solution across the country avoiding duplication of data through use of various software solutions with different reporting structures making it impossible to link and follow a cohort of pregnant women as intended by the Government led Mother and Child Tracking System. The paper describes the process of development and roll out of the National MDR software under the leadership of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (Maternal Health division) supported by The Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India, Systems and Program Management through funding from the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics over a period of 24 months. Key challenges and lessons learnt, as well as demonstration of the use of the software to track maternal deaths, understanding related causes, gaps in services delivery etc will be highlighted. The lessons learnt from India's experience support further understanding of using innovative technologies to address large scale public health issues in developing countries.