BSS, Dhaka :
Bangladesh is one of the only 9 countdown countries already on track to achieve the primary target of the 5th Millennium Development Goal (MDG) by 2015.
It is also the only low-income or middle-income country with two large, nationally-representative and high-quality household surveys focused on the measurement of maternal mortality and service use.
The data on Bangladesh Maternal Mortality Surveys from 2001 to 2010 has been used to measure change in the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) and from these and six Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys to find changes in factors potentially related to such development.
The MMR fell from 322 deaths/100,000 livebirths in 1998-2001 to 194 deaths in 2007-10, an annual rate of decrease of 5.6%, slightly higher than the required (5.5%) to achieve the MDG in 2015. The key factor to this fall was a drop in mortality risk mainly due to improved access to health facilities.
Additionally, some positive changes occurred in this period:
fertility decreased and proportion of births associated with high risk to the mother fell; income per head increased sharply and the poverty rate fell; and the education levels of women of reproductive age improved substantially.
According to official counts, 52% of maternal deaths that would have occurred in 2010 in view of 2001 rates were averted because of decreases in fertility and risk of maternal death.
The fall in MMR in Bangladesh seems to have been the result of factors both within and outside the health sector. This finding holds important lessons for other countries as the world discusses and decides on the post-MDG goals and strategies.
For Bangladesh, this case study provides a strong rationale for the pursuit of a broader developmental agenda alongside more and accelerated investments in improving access to and quality of public and private health-care facilities.
The MMR would have gone further down if the awareness drive could be strengthened at the grassroots level with increased government initiative and private voluntary services for the poor in villages.
Dr. Nowsheen Purabi, a consultant on health awareness, found most women hesitant, ignorant or poor to consult doctors during pregnancy or childbirths. Frequent delay in consulting doctors often leads to otherwise preventable complications, increase in treatment expenses and reduction in chances of survival.
Unawareness of maternal and reproductive health, she found, was rampant among both young and old. In Bangladesh, poverty is not always the culprit, rather the lack of awareness of basic health issues results in suffering, she told BSS.
Bangladesh is one of the only 9 countdown countries already on track to achieve the primary target of the 5th Millennium Development Goal (MDG) by 2015.
It is also the only low-income or middle-income country with two large, nationally-representative and high-quality household surveys focused on the measurement of maternal mortality and service use.
The data on Bangladesh Maternal Mortality Surveys from 2001 to 2010 has been used to measure change in the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) and from these and six Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys to find changes in factors potentially related to such development.
The MMR fell from 322 deaths/100,000 livebirths in 1998-2001 to 194 deaths in 2007-10, an annual rate of decrease of 5.6%, slightly higher than the required (5.5%) to achieve the MDG in 2015. The key factor to this fall was a drop in mortality risk mainly due to improved access to health facilities.
Additionally, some positive changes occurred in this period:
fertility decreased and proportion of births associated with high risk to the mother fell; income per head increased sharply and the poverty rate fell; and the education levels of women of reproductive age improved substantially.
According to official counts, 52% of maternal deaths that would have occurred in 2010 in view of 2001 rates were averted because of decreases in fertility and risk of maternal death.
The fall in MMR in Bangladesh seems to have been the result of factors both within and outside the health sector. This finding holds important lessons for other countries as the world discusses and decides on the post-MDG goals and strategies.
For Bangladesh, this case study provides a strong rationale for the pursuit of a broader developmental agenda alongside more and accelerated investments in improving access to and quality of public and private health-care facilities.
The MMR would have gone further down if the awareness drive could be strengthened at the grassroots level with increased government initiative and private voluntary services for the poor in villages.
Dr. Nowsheen Purabi, a consultant on health awareness, found most women hesitant, ignorant or poor to consult doctors during pregnancy or childbirths. Frequent delay in consulting doctors often leads to otherwise preventable complications, increase in treatment expenses and reduction in chances of survival.
Unawareness of maternal and reproductive health, she found, was rampant among both young and old. In Bangladesh, poverty is not always the culprit, rather the lack of awareness of basic health issues results in suffering, she told BSS.
