WHO Definition of Late Maternal Death

The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies maternal deaths by timing relative to the end of pregnancy. A maternal death is the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, from causes related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management. Beyond this, WHO also defines a late maternal death as the death of a woman from direct or indirect obstetric causes occurring more than 42 days but less than one year after termination of pregnancy.

Why 42 Days is the Correct Threshold

The 42-day (6-week) cut-off corresponds to the standard duration of the puerperium (postpartum period), during which the mother's reproductive organs return to their pre-pregnancy state. WHO uses this same 42-day boundary to separate "maternal death" (occurring within 42 days) from "late maternal death" (occurring after 42 days but before one year), because obstetric complications such as puerperal sepsis, embolism, or pregnancy-related cardiomyopathy can still cause death well after the immediate postpartum window, and capturing these within one year gives a fuller picture of maternal mortality.

Analysis of Options

• 7 days — Incorrect. Seven days falls within the early puerperium and is far too short; it is not the WHO cut-off used in any maternal mortality definition.
• 21 days — Incorrect. Twenty-one days is not a recognized WHO threshold for maternal or late maternal death classification.
• 84 days — Incorrect. Eighty-four days (12 weeks) is not part of the WHO definition; it does not correspond to any standard postpartum or obstetric reporting period used for this classification.
• 42 days — Correct. This matches the WHO definition precisely: late maternal death is death from direct or indirect obstetric causes occurring more than 42 days but less than one year after termination of pregnancy, with 42 days marking the end of the standard puerperal period.

Hence, the correct value of X is 42, consistent with WHO's official definition of late maternal death.