Factors Influencing Women Receiving Safe Child-Delivery Care in Bangladesh

Worldwide every minute of every day a woman dies of pregnancy-related complications resulting in 586000 women dying each year. Estimates of the maternal mortality ratio in Bangladesh range from 320 to 400 maternal deaths per 100000 live births which is considerably higher compared to other developing countries (Hill et al. 2001). The majority of these deaths could be prevented if professionally skilled health personnel were present during child-delivery. Despite the availability of primary healthcare infrastructure at the grassroots level home births are still common in Bangladesh (90%). About 44% of women do not receive antenatal care. Overall 71% of urban women receive antenatal care from a medically trained person compared with 43% of rural women. Only about 13% of women delivered their most recent baby with the assistance of a professionally skilled health provider. This paper examines the factors that influence women receiving safe child-delivery care in Bangladesh using multivariatelogistic regression analysis of Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2004 data. The study shows that demographic and socio-economic factors were the most important aspects that influence women receiving safe child-delivery care in Bangladesh. The independent factors influencing women receiving safe child-delivery care included maternal age antenatal checkup problems during delivery education of mothers place of residence and household economic status. (authors)