But we must go further. If we want every mother to have a fair shot at survival, we need to shift how we think about care. Bangladesh cannot afford to view healthcare as a numbers game.
Building hospitals is not enough if mothers cannot reach them. Training doctors is not enough if they won’t work in hard-to-reach areas. A one-size-fits-all approach may work in the plains, but not in chars, where transportation is seasonal, staff turnover is high, and the nearest emergency facility is hours away.

To reignite progress, we must invest in hybrid models like BRAC’s PHC-CHW approach, blending fixed facilities with mobile care. We must regulate the private sector to incentivise rural service expansion, not just urban saturation. And we must empower local women as CHWs, whose knowledge of the local context makes them more than caregivers -- they are trusted community anchors. And we also need to develop policies that incentivise skilled providers to serve in marginalised, hard-to-reach areas.

Lastly, community engagement and awareness efforts to promote behaviour change must be amplified. The era of simply urging women to go to hospitals is over. Awareness efforts must go beyond messaging. Telling a woman to seek care is not enough if the nearest facility is three hours away. We need to bring empathetic, culturally appropriate care to her doorstep. That includes outreach through community health workers who can identify danger signs in pregnancy and facilitate timely referrals. Families and local leaders must be part of this solution too.

Let us remember that maternal health is not a privilege -- it is a right. We cannot allow progress to stall while mothers in the margins are left behind. Abu Bakar’s sister deserved better. So do the 4,200 mothers Bangladesh still loses every year. When we meet communities where they are, hope follows. Our journey continues until every birth is a safe birth -- and motherhood is a time of joy, not a test of survival.
Let us keep the promise we made. Let us walk the last mile together.

* Dr. Imran Ahmed Chowdhury is the Head of Health System Transformation and Innovation
at the BRAC Health Programme. Email: [email protected]



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