Introduction

This is a unique database that covers research on maternal health in low- middle- and high-income countries. The database includes primary research and systematic reviews published 2000-2012.

The database is a product of a systematic map undertaken by partners in the MASCOT and WOTRO projects, from more than a dozen countries. The review was funded by European Union through the FP-7 MASCOT project, WOTRO Science for Global Development.

Last updated: March 2013

Number of entries:

Scope of the database

The database includes research that examines:

• Maternal health interventional research in low- and middle-income countries. The database contains: health systems interventions; interventions in community settings; health promotion interventions; and interventions on 5 tracer clinical conditions, namely antepartum and postpartum haemorrhage, HIV and other STIs, hypertension and malaria.

• Maternal health interventions in high-income countries that occurred outside the health facility

• For a detailed description of the scope of the database, see the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and other components of the database in the study protocol

How were the studies identified and included in the database?

This database is a product of a systematic mapping of the maternal health literature and contains information from two systematic reviews. This means that the studies were identified using systematic searching and mapping techniques. For a detailed description of the methods employed to undertake these reviews, see the study protocols for each review. The reviews are:

• Review title: Health system and community-based interventions for improving maternal health and for reducing maternal health inequalities in low- and middle-income countries: a two-stage mixed-methods research synthesis. The protocal is available here

• Review title: Community-based interventions for improving maternal health and for reducing maternal health inequalities in high-income countries: a systematic map of research. The protocal is available here

Using the database

Instruction on using the database, including information specific to this project can be found here

A variety of functions can be carried out:

• Searches can be carried out using key words and free-text terms.

• Reports enable visual mapping and analysis of the search results

General help on using the webdatabase application can be found in the Help tab.

Recording your findings

To record results of your searches, you can print out your searches or reports, or cut and paste the table into word processing software. Landscape format provides the best results.

Acknowledgements

The initial MASCOT/WOTRO review was funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013; grant agreement number 282507) and NWO/Wotro (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, WOTRO Science for Global Development).’ Technical and financial support for the coding for health promotion interventions for MNH was provided by the World Health Organization Department for Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (WHO/MCA), made possible through a grant received from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD).