Background
The national Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response (MPDSR) system in Cambodia is designed to link facility-level case review with district and national reporting to identify causes of maternal and newborn deaths and to inform corrective actions. MPDSR combines routine reporting, local multidisciplinary reviews and coordinated response planning to reduce preventable maternal and perinatal mortality.
The Ministry of Health provides national-level coordination of MPDSR through a designated national committee that brings together hospital, district and partner representatives to review findings and track implementation of response plans. The MPDSR process includes case identification, standardized review, recommendation of priority interventions and follow-up monitoring by hospital and national MPDSR committees.
Key Developments
On 13 August 2026 in Phnom Penh, the national MPDSR committee held a progress review meeting to assess implementation, identify challenges and set priority actions. The meeting recorded the following recommended measures for immediate and ongoing implementation in hospitals, districts and health centres:
- Prioritise MPDSR implementation across the Ministry of Health as a key mechanism for reducing maternal and perinatal mortality.
- Implement antenatal care (ANC) colour-coding for high-risk pregnancies and ensure CPA2/CPA3-level hospitals establish dedicated reception and management pathways for identified high-risk women.
- Strengthen training and capacity building at district health offices, health centres and community levels on risk identification, clinical care, referral and response procedures for maternal and newborn complications.
- Improve timeliness, completeness and continuity of MPDSR reporting and information flows to support data analysis, problem identification and targeted response planning.
- Request national hospital MPDSR committees to monitor progress of facility response plans and to submit progress reports to the national MPDSR committee; provincial hospitals were asked to report on roll-out of ANC colour-coding and formation of postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) response teams.
- Continue to strengthen emergency obstetric and neonatal care (EmONC) capacity, including data-integrated management and routine availability of staff, medicines and essential supplies for obstetric and neonatal emergency response.
Institutional Role
The national MPDSR committee convened senior Ministry of Health officials, representatives from eight national referral hospitals, and partner organisations including UNFPA, WHO, JICA, UNICEF, KOFIH and technical advisers. These institutional participants are responsible for coordinating implementation, providing technical support and tracking reporting between facility, provincial and national levels.
Operational Implications
Hospitals at CPA2/CPA3 levels are expected to set up appropriate reception and management arrangements for women identified as high-risk under ANC colour-coding and to establish or report on PPH response teams at provincial hospitals. District and health-centre staff are expected to receive strengthened training on risk detection, referral and response, while national committees will track the submission of progress reports to inform resource allocation and further capacity support.
Official Source
Source: Ministry of Health social media post (13 August 2026), national MPDSR committee meeting report summary.
