Maternal health outcomes for the countries of the former Soviet Union are poorer than for the rest of Europe. Russia in particular is a problem. What measures are suitable for guiding the country's policy on improving this area of health care?

Maternal mortality is a key indicator of a country's progress in improving health, forming the basis for one of the United Nations' millennium development goals. It is an area where, despite substantial gains in the post-war period, the countries of the former Soviet Union have made only limited progress since gaining their independence in the early 1990s. Yet a failure to reduce maternal mortality does not indicate what action is needed for improvement. Interest is focusing on other measures, many of which examine the provision of the various elements of delivery of care.1,2 But in the post-Soviet context, how useful are these process indicators in guiding policy development?