The design of the WHOMCS is described in detail elsewhere. In brief, this is a multicentre, cross-sectional
study aimed to study the occurrence of severe maternal morbidity in a worldwide network of health facilities. It was approved by the World Health Organization Ethical Review Committee and implemented in a random sample
of 359 health facilities in 29 countries from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Because of the financial and practical constraints, we did not conduct the survey in developed countries except for Japan, which volunteered to participate. A stratified, multistage cluster sampling strategy was used to select countries, provinces,
and health facilities. Within each country, the capital city was sampled, along with two randomly selected provinces
(probability proportional to population). From these, seven