Socioeconomic equity in maternal health services use in Bangladesh: The role of service readiness in health facilities during the period 2001–2016

Background Equity in health services use is related to utilizing equal treatment for equal health needs, irrespective of socioeconomic status. Inequity in maternal health services use in low- and middle-income countries has become a central public health policy and research issue in recent years to achieve universal health coverage by 2030. For Bangladesh, we examined if the socioeconomic equity for selected maternal health services use (viz., antenatal care from a medically trained provider, facility delivery, and management of complications) improved more in districts with high facility readiness than in the rest of the country during 2001‒2016. Methods We used data from three rounds of the Bangladesh Maternal Mortality and Health Care Survey and corresponding rounds of the Bangladesh Health Facility…