TY - JOUR T1 - Beyond No Blame: Practical Challenges of Conducting Maternal and Perinatal Death Reviews in Eastern Ethiopia JF - Global Health: Science and Practice JO - GLOB HEALTH SCI PRACT SP - 150 LP - 154 DO - 10.9745/GHSP-D-19-00366 VL - 8 IS - 2 AU - Abera Kenay Tura AU - Sagni Girma Fage AU - Alexander Mohamed Ibrahim AU - Ahmed Mohamed AU - Redwan Ahmed AU - Tadesse Gure AU - Joost Zwart AU - Thomas van den Akker A2 - , Y1 - 2020/06/30 UR - http://www.ghspjournal.org/content/8/2/150.abstract N2 - Key MessagesPerforming effective maternal death reviews as part of the maternal death surveillance and response program has been hindered by challenges including poor attendance, defensive attitudes, and blame shifting.Reviews of maternal and perinatal deaths should be based on a “no blame” principle. Emphasis should be on learning lessons and health professionals should feel safe to discuss the circumstances surrounding death.Meaningful reduction in maternal mortality requires a depoliticizing paradigm shift, a professional body to address patients’ worries, and clear medicolegal guidance to encourage providers to identify care deficiencies.Although knowledge on the determinants and causes of maternal and perinatal deaths is well established and effective strategies to decrease such deaths exist and are in use, maternal and child mortality comprises the unfinished agenda of the Millennium Development Goals project.1 In 2017 alone, 295,000 maternal and 2.5 million neonatal deaths were reported globally, 99% of them in low- and middle- income countries and from preventable causes.2,3 A maternal and perinatal death review is one of the key recommended strategies to decrease maternal and perinatal mortality by identifying cases and collecting relevant information permitting an effective response to prevent future deaths.4 With the overall objective of guiding actions to eliminate preventable maternal mortality, by ensuring that every maternal death (both inside and outside facilities) is counted to assess progress and evaluate impact of interventions, maternal death surveillance and response (MDSR) is widely implemented in low- and middle-income countries.5Despite its wide uptake guided by the World Health Organization (WHO), a review by Smith et al showed that MDSR is often inadequately institutionalized and the shift from the existing facility maternal death reviews to MDSR was not well addressed.6 Successfully institutionalizing the MDSR requires having strong political commitment, adequate financial support, a strong death identification and … ER -