Maternal mortality is not only a dramatic event. It is also an indicator of the quality of care. But important discrepancies in maternal mortality rates are recorded in Europe and particularly in Central and Eastern European countries.
In Hungary, the maternal mortality rate is around 15 per 100000. In Russia, it is around 50 per 100000 and in Romania, it reaches 150 maternal deaths per 100000 live births.
The two main objectives of the initial project (Biomed BMHI-CT93-1064) are to compare the maternal mortality rates between countries of the European Union and to identify risk factors related to health care conditions. It would be very interesting to be able to add the results issued from an other part of Europe where the state of health services and the level of maternal mortality are so much different.
In comparing the health care systems of Eastern and Western European countries, it may be possible to point out some specific characteristics that have an effect on the level of the maternal mortality.