Maternal Deaths Data Collection

The Maternal Deaths Data Collection contains information on all maternal deaths in Australia. The deaths are provided to the NPSU by the State and Territory Maternal Mortality Committees (STMMC) using a standard form. The STMMC receive notifications of maternal deaths from medical practitioners and midwives, hospitals, health departments, coronial and post mortem investigations, perinatal and hospital morbidity collections and from the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages. Individual committees are responsible for conducting confidential death enquiries that assign each death a principal cause and classification.

The AIHW National Advisory Committee on Maternal Mortality (NACMM) oversees the compilation of all reported deaths into the Maternal Deaths Data Collection and into a report on maternal deaths. A subcommittee of the NACMM reviews all maternal deaths to allocate principal and contributory causes of death and to classify the deaths as direct, indirect or incidental in a nationally consistent way.

The Maternal Deaths Data Collection contains information on maternal deaths from 1994 to 2002. Information relating to the mother, including demographic characteristics, factors related to the pregnancy, labour and birth and information about the classification and cause of death are included. I information about the outcome of the baby is also included.