Unravelling the conundrums of social autopsy for maternal mortality in low- and middle-income countries

Any meaningful effort to tackle maternal mortality in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) needs to be founded on a robust understanding of its causes. In LMICs, verbal autopsies are used to determine the clinical causes of death through interviews with the deceased person’s next-of-kin or caregivers. In addition, social autopsies have been conducted to allow capture of the story behind the death, enabling a comprehensive understanding of the socio-cultural, behavioural, and health system factors that contributed to the death [1,2]. However, researchers implementing social autopsies in LMICs are faced with some conun�drums. In this opinion, we discuss three key conundrums and propose a way forward for the field

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Journal
PLOS Global Public Health
Published
2025-03-06
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0004295
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Health disparities and outcomes
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
2.17
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article

Unravelling the conundrums of social autopsy for maternal mortality in low- and middle-income countries

Fatimat Motunrayo Akinlusi, R. Thompson, Phillip Wanduru, Adeyemi Okunowo et al.
1 citations
PLOS Global Public Health
Health disparities and outcomes
2.17
article

Unravelling the conundrums of social autopsy for maternal mortality in low- and middle-income countries

Fatimat Motunrayo Akinlusi, R. Thompson, Phillip Wanduru, Adeyemi Okunowo, Adedoyin Ogunyemi, Ololade Wright, Bosede Bukola Afolabi, Celso Monjane, Brenda Isikekpei, Aduragbemi Oluwabusayo Banke-Thomas, Ndubuisi Ezumezu
article en
1 citations

Abstract

Any meaningful effort to tackle maternal mortality in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) needs to be founded on a robust understanding of its causes. In LMICs, verbal autopsies are used to determine the clinical causes of death through interviews with the deceased person’s next-of-kin or caregivers. In addition, social autopsies have been conducted to allow capture of the story behind the death, enabling a comprehensive understanding of the socio-cultural, behavioural, and health system factors that contributed to the death [1,2]. However, researchers implementing social autopsies in LMICs are faced with some conun�drums. In this opinion, we discuss three key conundrums and propose a way forward for the field

PLOS Global Public HealthVol. 5(3)
Lagos State University (NG), University of Lagos (NG), Karolinska Institutet (SE), London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (GB), Instituto Nacional de Saúde (MZ), Makerere University (UG)
Openalex Percentile: Top 17%
Health disparities and outcomes
2.17
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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Unravelling the conundrums of social autopsy for maternal mortality in low- and middle-income countries — Fatimat Motunrayo Akinlusi, R. Thompson, et al. · PLOS Global Public Health (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS