SUMMARY
In 1990, the Sisterhood Method was applied in West Java, for an indirect estimate of maternal mortality. The estimated live time risk of maternal death was 0.0258 or the probability of maternal death was one out of 39 women by the end of their reproductive age, and the maternal mortality ratio was 4.9 per 1000 live births referring to a time location of 12.0 years ago (1977). Estimates derived from young respondents aged 15 - 24 years have to be corrected, since their sisters might not have got married, and estimates of the elder respondents aged 50 years and over are biased due to their poor recall of the passed events. Excluding the two groups of respondents, the live time risk of maternal death was estimated to be 0.0248 or the probability of maternal death was one out of 40 women by the end of their reproductive age, and the maternal mortality ratio was 4.7 per 1000 live births referring to a time location of 12.8 years ago (1977). The trend of maternal death, from 1972 through 1981, has not declined. The sisterhood method provides an approach suitable for estimating maternal mortality at a national and provincial level, complementing the findings of smaller scale in depth studies.