Disparities in Maternal and Newborn Health Interventions in Bangladesh: Evidence from the latest Demographic and Health Survey

Abstract

Maternal and newborn healths are two important aspects of public health in a country. The objective of this study is to reveal the disparities in maternal and newborn health interventions the with respect to relevant socio-economic and demographic variables. Data from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) - 2017 has been utilized to serve the purpose. The selection of variables has been done applying Grossman’s model for Bangladesh viewpoint. Graphical analysis and frequency distributions have been constructed not only to see the patterns and trends of selected variables from 1995 to 2018, but also to reveal the required disparities among the variables. Urban mothers as well as their children have been found to be comparatively in safer health conditions than the rural ones. Visible variations have also been observed across different divisions in the country. The inequity ratios between women in the richest and poorest wealth quintiles have already reduced to the targeted level of the fourth Health Nutrition and Population Sector Program (HPNSP) taken by the government. Mothers with secondary or higher education have been found to be in better health conditions along with their newborns than mothers with primary or no education. Other than few exceptions, the likelihood of maternal and newborn health interventions has been found to be decreasing with age and increasing with birth order. Further research is needed to detect the roots of these inequalities so that effective initiatives could be taken by the government to reduce them and ensure improved maternal and newborn health status. Otherwise, the objective of an excellent initiative of the government like the HPNSP-2017 would not be accomplished.