Looking beyond the numbers

Not just a statistic: More effort is needed to reduce maternal deaths in Bangladesh. — AFP

A TEENAGE girl named Zannat used to come to our house in Mirpur occasionally to help my mother with household work, some six or seven years ago. I'll never forget her ever-smiling face. A few years ago, I came to know from her elder sister that she died after giving birth to a baby girl. Her sister could not tell me the cause of her death. She said Zannat was never taken to any medical facility during or after delivery.

One or two years after Zannat's death, her elder sister also died after giving birth to a baby girl, due to severe bleeding. She was in her early 40s. The baby was delivered at home without the help of any medical practitioner. Her relatives said she had never gone to a doctor during her pregnancy.