ABSTRACT
PIP: This study investigates maternal mortality in the Santiago metropolitan area between 1973-1977. There were 410 maternal deaths, related to 448,795 live births. 50% of deaths were caused by induced abortion; 67 deaths were caused by severe hemorrhage due to placenta previa, ruptured uterus, antenatal hemorrhage, and anemia. Other causes of death were toxemia, vascular accidents, and infection. A further study of another series of 228 maternal deaths which occurred in 6 private hospitals in the same area, revealed that abortion was still the major cause of death, followed by hemorrhage due to the reasons mentioned above. Maternal mortality rates in Chile are much lower in urban than in rural areas, where medical resources are few. The decrease of the incidence of maternal mortality worldwide can be applied mostly to developed countries only; developing countries have a long way to go to improve maternal health services in order to drastically lower maternal mortality rate.^ieng