Bangladesh has participated in and endorsed International Conferences and Reservations on the International Conference on Population & Development (ICPD) Programme of Action (PoA). These are: ICPD (1994), Beijing Platform for Action (1995) and Millennium Development Goals (MDG) (2000).^[i] 

It records the second highest maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 570/100 000^[ii] live births in the South Asia region.  Women’s status and rights, the low utilisation of health facilities, low contraceptive prevalence rates (CPR) of 55.8%^[iii] in 2005 as well as a lack of post partum care within 2 days of delivery (only 21%)^[iv] are a major factor in the high MMR rate, and is indicative of gross neglect and a failure to fulfill women’s right to life.

Bangladesh is a country with a strong patriarchal social structure, which has led to the low status of women in both society and family. Women’s low self-esteem, limited social mobility, early marriage and early pregnancy, unsafe abortion, lack of effective community support structures for women, inappropriate and ineffective allocation and utilisation of resources for women’s rights and a culture of acceptance of the low status that women hold reflects the status of women in Bangladesh.^[v] 

There are glaring gender inequalities in women’s and men’s health status and access to and utilisation of health facilities. These inequalities start at home, where gender discrimination is rampant: women’s lack of bargaining power in the household, low expenditure on the health of women and girls, and prioritizing men and boys over women and girls when it comes to the division of food.^[vi] 

Women face many constraints in accessing health care in Bangladesh: lack of money for treatment and the distance to facilities are two of the most often cited problems. They are economically dependent on men and they face restrictions in travelling unaccompanied, and both of these socially created situations affect their health-care seeking opportunities. Their bodies and health remain a ‘taboo’ subject for many, and they are culturally and socially conditioned to not talk about their reproductive health problems. As a result, most women suffer health problems in silence, not disclosing their health condition even if their lives are at risk.^[vii] 

Neglect of women’s health during pregnancy reflects the low value placed on women’s lives. Women are reluctant to go to male doctors and sometimes families would not allow female members to be treated by male doctors. Most women usually do not have the power to decide this; mothers-in-law and husbands do. Women are also often not taken in time for emergency obstetric care, in fact, there are reported cases of women finally arriving at health service centers and not receiving adequate attention, with no importance seemingly given to save their lives. With the health care providers’ general insensitivity to women’s health needs, women’s reproductive rights are not respected and their reproductive health emergency conditions are often neglected. They do not get to decide how many children to have, whether or not to have them and when to have them. There is also a general lack of freedom to choose whether to use contraception to prevent pregnancy or to terminate unplanned pregnancies.^[viii]  

Pregnant adolescent girls represent significant subgroups of pregnant women. There is evidence of numerous barriers to the utilisation of health care by adolescents. This implies that the special vulnerability of adolescents has to be taken into account in the organisation, content and quality of care^[ix].