Maternal Mortality Due to Abortion Complications in Forcibly Displaced Myanmar National Camps: Results of a Novel Community-Facility Capture-Recapture (CFCR) Study

Blake Erhardt-Ohren, University of California, Berkeley
Dipika Paul, Ipas Bangladesh
Anik Mahmud, Ipas Bangladesh
Anika Tarannum, Ipas Bangladesh
Karen Weidert, University of California, Berkeley
Altaf Hossain, BAPSA
Sayed Rubayet, Ipas Bangladesh
Ndola Prata, Bixby Center for Population Health and Sustainability, UC Berkeley

This study uses a novel community-facility capture-recapture (CFCR) methodology to investigate maternal mortality due to abortion complications in Forcibly Displaced Myanmar National (FDMN) camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, and will be completed in January 2025. There is a paucity of research exploring abortion complication-related morbidity and mortality in humanitarian settings, but the most recent report with relevant data, from the UNFPA in 1999, suggests that 25-50% of maternal deaths in refugee settings are due to unsafe abortion. We will implement a novel CFCR methodology to estimate maternal mortality broadly and due to abortion complications. This research will fill a gap in knowledge about menstrual regulation, safe abortion, and post-abortion care and access, and the measurement of maternal death due to related complications in FDMN camps. This study will provide critical insights into new methodologies to more accurately measure maternal mortality due to abortion complications in these settings.

Keywords: Civil Registration and Vital Statistics, Migrant Populations and Refugees, Social network methods, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

See extended abstract.