Thesis on Knowledge on Safe Motherhood among Married Women In Dhaka City

Safe Motherhood

Over the next 15 years, largely a result of this landmark worldwide initiative, safe Motherhood became a central component for the achievement of women’s health and rights. At the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), maternal mortality was identified as a core component of women’s sexual and reproductive health, and at the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Summit it was situated within the broader context of poverty reduction efforts and overall development efforts. This section traces how maternal health has figured within the broader development framework and identifies key events that shaped its role at the international level.

Maternal and child health services over the years. Under the Safe Motherhood Program, the GoB is trying to ensure safe delivery by skilled attendants in all its health facilities. Maternal health services are provided at community and facility levels through a network of domiciliary field workers, satellite clinics, health clinics and hospitals. According to the findings of SNL the Bangladesh health system must meet two major challenges to reduce maternal and newborn mortality:

· A skilled health staff to assist deliveries and provide post-delivery care at the community level, and
· A strengthened referral system, particularly the capacity to manage life-threatening complications in Thana and district hospitals.
The National Maternal Health strategy has a ten-year perspective with specified aims and objectives to be achieved by 2010. The strategy focuses on service delivery mechanism and management, HRD/HRM plan, quality assurance, advocacy, BCC and community participation, and research and evaluation. The estimated cost for implementation of the strategy has also been indicated. Though the strategy focuses on the MOHFW service delivery system which is primarily rural based, it provides a framework for functions in the urban service delivery points and wherever possible references and partnerships have been highlighted.

Over the past decades, Bangladesh has continued to struggle with attempts to reduce maternal mortality. Intensified efforts in the field of TBA training and focus on increasing ANC have not brought about the desired results. Based on the experience from these attempts, increasing the availability of EmOC has been recognized as a key intervention to reduce maternal mortality. The assessment of availability and utilization of EmOC services in Bangladesh are as follows:

UNFPA, WHO and the GoB (MOHFW) was signed on 18 August 2002 for the pilot training of 300 Family Welfare Assistants (FWA) and Family Health Assistants (HA). The training is on safe delivery and referral techniques. The training will take place in 6 divisional districts and 6 upazilas with WHO and UNFPA assistance. The Obstetrics and Gynaecology Society of Bangladesh (OGSB) will implement and manage the project under the supervision of the Line Director IST, DGH. The present SBA training program also aims to increase skilled attendance at birth from the present 13% (2001) to 50% by 2010. The expected outcomes of the program SBA training are: The past 20 years have witnessed dramatic shifts in how maternal health is framed and conceptualized at the international level. Safe motherhood has evolved from a neglected component in maternal and child health programs to an essential and integrated element of women’s sexual and reproductive health. In the late 1970s through the mid 1980s, while safe motherhood was acknowledged as a key priority area for attaining the health and development of women, it was neglected in the development priorities of governments and funding agencies and maternal and child health programs tended to focus on the needs of the child and not the mother. In 1987, in an effort to redress this situation, a global movement was launched to bring attention to the silent tragedy of women dying during pregnancy and childbirth.

DOWNLOAD FULL