Table 1.

Conceptual definitions

Concept	Definition
Asia	The largest continent in the world, occupying the eastern part of the Eurasian landmass and its adjacent islands, and bordered by the Ural Mountains, Arctic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, and Mediterranean and Red Seas. Countries eligible for inclusion are those territorially part of the Asian continent without any inter-continental territorial disputes [48].
Middle East	A term referring, generally, to the geographical area and countries between the Black Sea to the north and the Arabian Sea to the south, including Iran and Egypt (e.g. Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Israel/Palestine, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen) [48].
Fragile and conflict-affected situation (FCS	The World Bank Harmonised List of Fragile Situations (FY14) was used, as it is accepted by several development banks and agencies [49]. Criteria are either (a) a harmonized average country performance Indicator assessment (CPIA) rating of 3.2 or less, or (b) the presence of a UN and/or regional peace-keeping or peace-building mission during the past three years. CPIA consists of performance rating against 16 criteria in four clusters: (i) economic management, (ii) structural policies, (iii) policies for social inclusion/equity, and (iv) public-sector management and institutions [50].
Health services usage	Use of health services and supplies, it is commonly measured in terms of patterns or rates per unit of population at risk during a specified time-period [49, 51].
Maternal services	Any preventive and curative services related to pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period [51]. Services include antenatal care, any delivery-related care (e.g. home delivery, institutional delivery, skilled attendance), emergency obstetric care, and postpartum care [49, 51].
Newborn services	Any preventive and curative postnatal services during the first 28 days after birth, including early breastfeeding within an hour of birth, exclusive breastfeeding, treating illnesses and symptoms, and newborn vaccination [49, 51].