THE BANGLADESH DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

Bangladesh has made great strides in improving the health of its population, much more than a country at its level of development can be expected to do. Serious problems still remain in reducing child malnutrition and maternal mortality in particular; nonetheless, the aggregative results achieved in the last three decades are quite impressive. These achievements have certainly have gone a long way towards fulfilling the right to health in Bangladesh. This paper argues, however, that despite overall progress the health sector of Bangladesh suffers from a number of inadequacies that militate against the rights-based approach to health. These include persistent inequities in access to healthcare (including gender inequity, and inequity along the poor versus non-poor divide), lack of meaningful participation…