Abstract

Background: Globally, Civil Registration, and Vital Statistics is the recommended method to track births and deaths. This system is weak in developing countries, including Tanzania. Other systems that may be used to report deaths, especially maternal mortality include integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) and DHIS 2. Tanzania has been using Demographic and Health Survey to track maternal deaths from as early as 2000. This study uses a sisterhood method which is conducted every five years, tracking events of the past ten years. It collects maternal deaths related from sisters of the same mother from sampled 10,000 households out of 11,000,000 available in Tanzania. The methodology uses wide confidence intervals, which affect its reliability. Therefore, the presented data is the outcome of tracking maternal deaths data using routine system from health facilities and communities in Tanzania Mainland.