Safe Motherhood project in Bangladesh

The government has adopted a US dollar six million project with assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to enhance Maternal and Neonatal Health (MNH) service in three districts in next five years.

The project titled Safe Motherhood Promotion Project (SMPP) phase-II will start tomorrow in Narsingdi, Jessore and Satkhira districts to support the government's strategic plan for the Health Population and Nutrition Sector Development Program (HPNSDP), JICA's senior Programme Officer Salma Akhter told BSS on June 30, 2011.

The Japan government is assisting the project aiming at helping the Bangladesh government to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality in the country, she said.


The project is designed to enhance maternal and neonatal health activity coordination among stakeholders at national level, to strengthen upazila health system and to disseminate good practices and lessons learnt from this project to all over the country.

The ultimate goal of the project is provide quality MNH services with proper care for women and newborn babies of the target areas, Salma said.

With the support of JICA, the health and family welfare ministry earlier implemented the Safe Motherhood Promotion Project Phase- 1 in Narsingdi district from July 2006 to June 2011 as pilot basis, which is recognized as 'Narsingdi Model' by the government.

Under the Narsingdi Model, the health status of women and neonates was improved through strengthening safe delivery service and supporting women and neonates to utilize obstetric and neonatal care services. As a result of the project, the death rate of pregnant women in Narsingdi has declined from 1.7 to 0.4 percent at the health facilities where emergency obstetric care is available, sources related to the project said.

Local union parishads are active partners of the project while regular meeting, pregnancy registration and mapping, securing transportation for emergency referrals, funding support for poor pregnant women, awareness raising on safe motherhood and birth planning sessions are the key elements of the system.

This is a successful model of Maternal and Neonatal Health built on the cultural and economic context of Bangladesh for achieving number four and five of Millennium Development Goals.