Submitted by: Tahmina Sultan

Poor maternal health and poverty are directly interrelated. Bangladesh being one of the poor countries in the world has worse maternal mortality rate in South Asia. It has been estimated that every year 21,000 women die during pregnancy or while giving birth to a child. Most of these deaths occur due to hemorrhage, anemia, hypertension and obstructed labor. Absence of medication for pregnant woman and delay in receiving the appropriate mode of transportation is also a major contributing factor to poor maternal health.In countries like Bangladesh, 68.7% of the women give birth without the assistance of trained birth attendants. Instead relatives or traditional midwives, who are often not capable of handling complications during the delivery serve as birth assistants. Factors that prevent women in getting the health care they need include distance from health services, cost (direct fees as well as the cost of transportation, drugs, and supplies), multiple demands on their time, and woman’s lack of decision-making power within the family. The poor quality of services, including poor treatment by health providers, also makes some women reluctant to use services.

One of the major reasons for poor maternal health is the lack of skilled birth attendants which accounts for just 13% of all deliveries in Bangladesh. Another major reason for the poor is the fact that female children are not adequately nourished since their birth and generally conceive early in life. The resultant poor health and low birth weight has been carrying on for centuries.

The biggest challenge for the government and nongovernmental organizations is how to improve maternal health condition of women in Bangladesh. The high levels of illiteracy among women acts as a major roadblock in all developmental projects. Some of the required steps needed in to improve this issue in Bangladesh are:

1. Educating women folk in all stages of pregnancy right from early days of conceiving to proper delivery of the child. They need to be educated on the basic precautions to be taken during pregnancy.

2. Most of the pregnant women in Bangladesh are under nourished which severely affects the child and contributes to the high mortality rate. Pregnant woman and her family need to be aware about the necessary levels of nutrition.

3. Improve the body mass index of the women who are expecting by making them aware of it. The body mass index of majority of the pregnant woman in Bangladesh are lower than the minimum required which leads to complications in pregnancy.

4. Poor maternal health is also a result of socioeconomic condition of the women in the country. Making people aware of the harm of teenage pregnancy which can prove to be fatal both for the child as well as the mother.

5.Encouraging people to maintain gap between their children. Frequent pregnancy among women in Bangladesh has been one of the primary reasons for the poor state health of the mother.

A mother s health profoundly affects the health and well-being of her children. While maternal mortality remains unacceptably high throughout Bangladesh. By creating a support system within various communities be it in villages or certain pockets of the urban areas can improve the maternal health. This could be aimed at making the entire community take steps towards the improvement of maternal health.

These campaigns run by certain organizations has yielded substantial results in the places where the campaign has been carried out.

About the Author: Tahmina Sultan

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Touching Souls International(TSI) is a New York based International non profit organization providing charity in health, education and safe environment for economically disadvantaged.

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