Looking beyond maternal mortality rates in maternal health interventions: lessons from Nepal

Nepal has long been hailed as a global success in reducing maternal mortality, but recent census data suggests there has been less progress than the international development agencies had estimated. This raises several questions: are Maternal Mortality Rates (MMRs) the best way to measure progress on maternal health? What are the consequences of the political pressure to demonstrate the impact of programmatic and technical interventions? In this brief Jeevan R. Sharma seeks to offer some preliminary answers.