The health indicators show that women are in disadvantageous position compared to men in terms of health and nutrition. While facilities are limited for everyone in general, women’s access to such facilities is even more limited. Women’s role as wife and mother is glorified, and girls are married off at an early age, especially in the rural areas, and soon after that they enter into a pattern of high fertility. This creates health problems for women. Thirty-six percent of women in the age group of 15-19 are married.

Long child-bearing span, with first birth at an early age, and high birth rate (an average of 2.9 children per woman) aggravate women’s malnutrition status, which is already poor due to inadequate food intake.

Improving the health of women requires addressing social issues. The approach adopted by the health services for women’s healthcare is mainly restricted to their reproductive health, while general health remains neglected. The motherhood of Bangladeshi women is characterised by young age, malnutrition, frequent pregnancies, and poor healthcare services. Maternal mortality is 570 per 100,000 women, which is higher than that of India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

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