Poor maternal health and poverty are directly interrelated. Bangladesh being one of the poor countries in the world has worse maternal mortality rate in South Asia. It has been estimated that every year 21,000 women die during pregnancy or while giving birth to a child. Most of these deaths occur due to hemorrhage, anemia, hypertension and obstructed labor. Lack of drugs for pregnant woman and delay in receiving the appropriate mode of transportation is also a major contributing factor to poor maternal health.

One of the major reasons for poor maternal health is the lack of skilled birth attendants which accounts for just 13% of all deliveries in Bangladesh. Another major reason for the poor is the fact that female children are not adequately nourished since their birth and generally become pregnant early in life. The resultant poor health and low birth weight has been conducted for centuries.

The biggest challenge for the government and nongovernmental organizations is how to improve maternal health condition of women in Bangladesh. The high levels of illiteracy among women acts as a major roadblock in all developmental projects. Some of the required steps needed in to improve this issue in Bangladesh are:

1. Educating women folk in all stages of pregnancy right from early days of conceiving to proper delivery of the child. They need to be educated on the basic precautions to be taken during pregnancy.

2. Most of the pregnant women in Bangladesh are under nourished which severely affects the child and contributes to the high mortality rate. Pregnant woman and her family need to be aware about the necessary levels of nutrition.

3. Improve the body mass index of the women who are expecting by making them aware of it. The body mass index of majority of the pregnant woman in Bangladesh are lower than the minimum required which leads to complications in pregnancy.

4. Poor maternal health is also a result of socioeconomic condition of the women in the country. Making people aware of the harm of teenage pregnancy which can prove to be fatal both for the child as well as the mother.

5.Encouraging people to maintain gap between their children. Frequent pregnancy among women in Bangladesh has been one of the primary reasons for the poor state health of the mother.

By creating a support system within the different communities be it in villages or certain pockets of the urban areas can improve the maternal health. This could be aimed at making the entire community take steps towards the improvement of maternal health.

These campaigns run by certain organizations has yielded substantial results in the places where the campaign has been carried out. Encouraged by this recent success it is now looking to spread the campaign to other parts of the country in the near future.

The biggest victims of a poverty stricken country are its children. Bangladesh has had a dismal track record when it has come to kids health. Most of the children in the country specially in the rural areas suffer from acute malnutrition. The problem gets aggravated as Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world with nearly 1,000 people per square kilometer. Although there has been considerable progress in the last 15 years the health of children in Bangladesh is being described as one of the severe in South Asia.

According to the latest UNICEF report the mortality rate in children under-five stands at an alarming 94 deaths per 1,000 live births. Malnutrition, pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, measles, injuries are contributing to the high rate of neonatal deaths in the country. Nearly one-half of all children below the age of five years are either underweight or stunted. The poor child health care facilities in the country means that most of these children are not vaccinated exposing them to the threats of life threatening diseases.

There is lack of awareness among women folk in the country concerning basic issues relating to kids health is another key reason resulting in the high mortality rate in children. Some of the areas where more attention need to be focused are:

1. Educating the women folk on the basics of child health care which includes things like importance of breast feeding. This is a very challenging affair considering the high level of illiteracy in the country.

2. Stressing on equal care for the girl child. The track record of Bangladesh on the girl child is not impressive like its South Asian neighbor India.

3. Making people specially the parents aware of the basic nutritional requirement of a child. Giving them proper break up of the food items required to attain those minimum levels of nutrition.

3. Awareness campaigns on the importance of vaccination for the children of all ages in the country.

4. Regular counseling to pregnant women regarding childbirth and advise them on the required nutritional level during their pregnancy.

5. Encourage women to give birth with assistance from trained health personnel and in a health facility. In absence of a proper medical facility experienced midwives, or trained birth attendants should be present during the child birth.

The recent years have shown some improvement as far as child health care is concerned but Bangladesh has a long way to go to achieve the minimum nutritional and other health level in children.