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Achievements and challenges to face maternal mortality in Ecuador, 2014-2018

Abstract:

Introduction: Ecuador is located in the northwestern coast of South America; it has a high rate of maternal mortality which represents a serious public health problem. Objective: To describe the behaviour of maternal mortality in Ecuador from January, 2014 to December, 2018, and the accomplishment of the maternal health goals. Methods: It was conducted a retrospective, descriptive and cross-sectional research in the databases of the Ministry of Public Health and the National Institute of Statistics and Census of Ecuador. In addition, there were carried out searches in Google Scholar, PubMed, SciELO and were choosen articles that contributed to the knowledge of the studied subject. Results: The goals in maternal health have not been met by Ecuador, specially in the areas related to maternal mortality and adolescents pregnancy, in spite of the advanced work in coverage of the records system for vital statistics, coding of death causes, factor of adjustment to the estimation model to correct the sub-registry, the projection of births and deaths of the country. Conclusions: Maternal mortality is still a serious health problem in Ecuador and it is expected that the policies implemented for maternal mortality reduction bring better results and that the Ecuadorean state embraces the measures of epidemiologic surveillance standardized and managed by the World Health Organization and the Panamerican Health Organization.