Iranian Journal of

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Background & Objectives: Maternal health status is one the important health index since it could be a hallmark of performance of health care service particularly in rural area. The aim of this study is ranking and identifying homogeneous provinces based on maternal health indices in Iran.
Methods: Based on the indices in the vital horoscope which were reported by Iran Ministry of Health in 2006, fifteen indices related to maternal health have been selected. Using factor analysis, a factor that can represent rural maternal health in provinces was chosen and provinces ranked according to it. A hierarchical cluster analysis employed for identifying homogenous province based on a distance matrix obtained from the same selected indices in factor analysis.
Results: Factor analysis demonstrated that 89% of data variation included in this model. Based on an appropriate factor as index of maternal health, ranking was run in all provinces in Iran. According to this model, the maternal health status was in good condition in the rural areas of Gilan, Mazandaran and Tehran provinces, respectively. While maternal health were in inappropriate condition in rural areas of Khuzestan, Kohkiluyeh and Hormozgan provinces. The worst rural area was the province of Sistan and Baluchestan.
Conclusion: It could be concluded that employing multivariate analysis would be an effective tool for ranking and classifying homogeneous population (provinces) in terms of maternal health indices. Therefore health policy makers should consider the practical method of this analysis for any decision making.

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Background and Objectives: Due to the importance of mortality statistics for planning, setting priorities and equal allocation of health services in population it is essential to assess quality of reporting mortality data in health systems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the completeness and accuracy of the Iranian Vital Horoscope reports for maternal and the under-five mortality (U5M) in rural areas through its comparison with other data sources in Iran.
Methods: The mortality data of Vital Horoscope reported from 30 selected cities over country was compared with the related data obtained from other data sources including Vital Horoscope's Fieldwork reports, Death Registration System and Maternal Mortality Surveillance System of Ministry of Health and Medical Education.
Results: Overall completeness of Vital Horoscope's Fieldwork reports for U5M in rural areas was about % 62.1. In terms of cause of death in children under-five,estimated sensitivity values were % 47.2 (95% CI: 22.9-72.2), % 66.6(95% CI: 22.7-95.7),  %78.2 (95% CI: 64.3-89.3)for respiratory infections, diarrhea and vomiting, and injuries-burning and poisoning respectively. The vital horoscope reports had 12.5% misclassification in determining the cause of maternal death.
Conclusion: Our findings indicate the Vital Horoscope's data might need some corrections because of underestimating of the mortality indicators. The comparison of this source with Death Registration System report for causes of death in children under-five (reported by Vital Horoscope) suggests that the vital horoscope might have suboptimal quality.

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Background and Objectives: Due to the importance of mortality statistics for planning, setting priorities and equal allocation of health services in population it is essential to assess quality of reporting mortality data in health systems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the completeness and accuracy of the Iranian Vital Horoscope reports for maternal and the under-five mortality (U5M) in rural areas through its comparison with other data sources in Iran.

 Methods: The mortality data of Vital Horoscope reported from 30 selected cities over country was compared with the related data obtained from other data sources including Vital Horoscope's Fieldwork reports, Death Registration System and Maternal Mortality Surveillance System of Ministry of Health and Medical Education.

 Results: Overall completeness of Vital Horoscope's Fieldwork reports for U5M in rural areas was about % 62.1. In terms of cause of death in children under-five,estimated sensitivity values were % 47.2 (95% CI: 22.9-72.2), % 66.6(95% CI: 22.7-95.7), %78.2 (95% CI: 64.3-89.3)for respiratory infections, diarrhea and vomiting, and injuries-burning and poisoning respectively. The vital horoscope reports had 12.5% misclassification in determining the cause of maternal death.

 Conclusion: Our findings indicate the Vital Horoscope's data might need some corrections because of underestimating of the mortality indicators. The comparison of this source with Death Registration System report for causes of death in children under-five (reported by Vital Horoscope) suggests that the vital horoscope might have suboptimal quality.