Advocacy on Safe Motherhood Project

In Bangladesh, maternal and infant mortality rates are unfortunately high especially in rural communities mainly due to limited access to basic healthcare and education. Needless to say, “Safe motherhood” is not an opportunity; it is a right of every woman. And Bangladesh has a long way to go when it comes to providing quality maternal care and reducing maternal deaths.

Although maternal deaths declined significantly between 2001 and 2010—from 322 to 194 deaths per 100,000 live births—this rate has not changed between 2011 and 2016. In 2016, maternal mortality rate was 196 per 100,000 live births, almost the same as the rate of 2010. This is the finding of a survey done in 2017 by the National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT). Therefore, Bangladesh needs to achieve the remarkable target to reduce maternal deaths to 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030, which is one of the SDG goals.

CSS-Advocacy on Safe Motherhood Project is being implemented in 8 unions of Fakirhat upazila (whole Upazila covered) under Bagerhat district. The main objective of the project is to improve overall health status of the target population with emphasis on pregnant and lactating mothers through effective initiatives of CBOs that is followed by 3 major outcomes; (i) changed behavior and practice of union and upazila level public and private maternal health service providers (ii) active role played by divisional and central level government officials towards ensuring human resource, materials and proper implementation at local health centers for safe motherhood, and (iii) changed community mind-set and behavior. The project has formed a number of women led CBOs who are working closely with the community mothers and women to empower them and ultimately influence the policy-makers to include maternal issues in their agendas. Through interviews, group discussions, courtyard sessions, and workshops, barriers to safe motherhood are identified and later these issues are addressed at union/upazila level.