Challenges of the State Committee for prevention of maternal and infant mortality in Mato Grosso do Sul

Abstract

Introduction: The reduction of mortality rates of mothers and children poses a challenge for health servides and society. The causes of those deaths, generaly speaking, are classified as evitable or reducible, through accessible and effective actions from health services. As a strategy to reduce said deaths, the “Comitês de Mortalidade Materna, Infantil e Fetal” were created, with the goal of enhancing healthcare for this area. Objective: Highlight experiences and challenges of the Comitê Estadual de Prevenção da Mortalidade Materna e Infantil (CEPMMI)’s acts. Presentation of Professional Experience: The beginnings of CEPMMI do Estado happened in 2007, but its activities presented moments of fragility, leading to its deactivation. In 2014, said activities were resumed with the objective of promoting policies aimed towards women and children’s health. The establishment of that service appeared as a necessity for studying, evaluate and surveillance of those deaths, with emphasis on listing fragilities and proposing recommendations of improvements for the aid provided. Discussion: During the process of work of the Comitê, there were the elaboration of guiding tools to contribute in the qualification of the aid provided to the user and, consequently, the reduction of maternal, infant and fetuses’s death rates. Final Considerations: Since the implantation of the Comitê, monthly meetings were made in order to verify if the death causes were avoidable and to recommend the necessary strategies to reduce maternal-infant death rates, but such system is still flawed.