Synthetical Evaluation of Maternal and Child Health Indexes for Rural Areas in Five Provinces of China

Objective To compare and evaluate maternal and child situation of various rural areas with a synthetical index. Methods Ten original indexes from the existed data of rural maternal and child health cross - sectional survey in 114 counties of five provinces were first standardized.Q- cluster analysis and average index analysis techniques as synthetical evaluation methods were used to analyze the standardized indexes.Results Maternal and child health situations were various in the sample counties.The average indexes of five provinces and clustered three areas made well known the overall level of maternal and child health situation in sample counties.Conclusion Synthetical evaluation method can do comparison not only between areas, but also within one area.Besides, it can also be used to raise the suitable suggestion to improve maternal and child health situations in different areas.