Definition:
Numerator: Number of women seen in the facility with severe systemic infection or sepsis in the postnatal period, including readmissions after birth in facility.
Denominator: Total number of women giving birth in the health facility.
Disaggregation: Age, place of residence, socioeconomic status, type of facility.
Data Requirements: Data for this indicators can be collected by delegated staff from available records or chart review.
Data Sources: Chart review Patient records Admission and discharge records
Purpose: Puerperal sepsis is another important cause of maternal death and is often linked to the quality of care during labour and childbirth. As women who give birth in facilities are often discharged home before clinical signs of severe sepsis appear. This indicator includes readmissions for sepsis, in an effort to capture the occurrence of systemic infection in the postnatal period (i.e. the first 42 days after birth).
References: World Health Organization (WHO). Consultation on Improving Measurement of the Quality of Maternal, Newborn and Child Care in Health Facilities.; 2013. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/128206/1/9789241507417_eng.pdf World Health Organization (WHO). 2015 Global Reference List of 100 Core Health Indicators.; 2015. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/173589/1/WHO_HIS_HSI_2015.3_eng.pdf