Bangladesh's government has planned to cut down on the maternal mortality rate, from 20,000 to 5,000 a year over a decade as it renewed its commitment to such mortality reduction by 75 percent by 2015 to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
'It will be tough to achieve the target because of the ignorance and unavailability of quality maternal health services,' Director of the Safe Motherhood of the Family Planning Association of Bangladesh was quoted by the New Age as saying.
The rate of maternal death is more prevalent in rural areas rather than in urban areas, she said, adding that the government has the infrastructure to provide maternal health care in remote areas, but most family welfare centers in unions are not active.
The 24th edition of the Statistical Yearbook of Bangladesh 2004 says maternal mortality ratio per 1000 live birth is 3.40 in rural areas whereas the ratio is 2.04 in urban areas.
