Health hazards in Bangladesh
15,000 children in Dhaka die every year from pollution
By K. Ratnayake
3 February 1999
Masses of people in Bangladesh face a perilous situation due to hazardous health conditions in the country, according to reports from health workers and the World Bank. The main source of these conditions is the poverty and backwardness maintained and deepened by capitalist rule.
http://www1.wsws.org/articles/1999/feb1999/bang-f03.shtml
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Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP) Discussion Paper
Bangladesh: Inequalities in Utilization of Maternal Health Care Services -
Evidence from Matlab
A.T.M. Iqbal Anwar,
a
Japhet Killewo,
b
Mahbub-E-Elahi K Chowdhury
a
and Sushil
Kanta Dasgupta
a
a
Reproductive Health Unit, International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research
(ICDDR,B), Dhaka, Bangladesh
b
International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research (ICDDR,B), Dhaka, Bangladesh
Paper prepared for the Program on Reaching the Poor with Effective Health, Nutrition,
and Population Services, organized by the World Bank in cooperation with the William
and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Governments of the Netherlands and Sweden.
Abstract: This study investigates the equity implications of introducing a facility-based
maternity care strategy in rural Bangladesh. The study took place in Matlab subdistrict in
Chandpur District, where the Centre for Population and Health Research (ICDDR,B) had
initiated a home-based maternity care program during 1987. During 1996-2001 the
home-based strategy was replaced by a facility-based strategy that featured gradual
upgrading of four ICDDR,B subcentres to provide basic emergency obstetrical care
(EOC). During the 1997-2001 study period 19% of births took place in ICDDR,B
facilities, 4% occurred in other facilities (public & private), and 2.6% births were
attended by ICDDR,B midwives at home. The remaining deliveries took place at home
without trained attendants. The study examines: 1) the extent to which poorer women in
the community used the EOC services introduced and 2) the factors determining the use
of those services. It does so by analyzing monitoring and service data from the
ICDDR,B's maternity care program. The principal findings are that: (i) Women from
poorer households used ICDDR, B delivery facilities significantly less than their betteroff counterparts: the ratio between the best-off and worst-off 20% of the population was
nearly 3:1. (ii) While overall facility utilization increased during the study period, the
economic disparities in use persisted. (iii) Factors other than economic status associated
with use of maternity care were area of residence, number of antenatal visits, birth order,
maternal education and age, and year of delivery.
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