Abstract We used a community surveillance system to gather information regarding pregnancy outcomes and the cause of death for women of reproductive age (WRA) in Kanchanpur, Nepal. A total of 784 mother groups participated in the collection of pregnancy outcomes and mortality data. Of the 273 deaths among WRA, the leading causes of death reported were chronic diseases (94, 34.4%) poisoning, snake bites and suicide (grouped together; 55, 20.1%), and accidents (29, 10.6%), while maternal mortality accounted for 7%. Nevertheless, the calculated maternal mortality ratio was quite high (259.3 per 100,000 live births).