Do not let maternal care gains slip away

Even a few years ago, the “Maternal Death Free Kapasia Model” in Gazipur was showcased by the UNFPA as a best practice model for ensuring zero maternal deaths. However, according to a report in this daily, the model, which should have been replicated in at least 100 other upazilas, is currently in a state of decay due to severe shortages of funding, logistical support, medicine and staff.

Across Kapasia upazila’s maternal and child care government clinics and union health centres, service delivery is stunted due to vacant positions. As a result, services such as normal deliveries, provision of antenatal, postnatal, and primary care, pregnancy registration, household visits, and medicine distribution have remained inaccessible to thousands of expectant mothers in the upazila. Meanwhile, against a need for over two lakh iron, calcium and vitamin B tablets each month for pregnant mothers, the upazila’s health facilities received only 69,000 tablets in March. This stock, rationed till May, has now run out completely. The consequences are already visible: at least one maternal death took place in April this year. A correspondent of this daily also found a maternal death that occurred in October 2025 but was not even recorded by the upazila office.

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Several factors are contributing to the current state of the once-ideal Kapasia model. When the Fourth Health, Population and Nutrition Sector Programme (HPNSP) expired in June 2024, funding and resources were cut off. A digital database recording information on pregnant women across the 11 unions of Kapasia upazila—which tracked high-risk pregnancies, scheduled check-ups, sent reminders, and facilitated referrals—has been inactive for two years. Besides, the physical handbook containing medical records, care schedules, and critical advice on emergency danger signs for expectant mothers has also not been distributed during this period. During a field visit, some health centres were found locked, while some were occupied by people who were not the centre’s staff.

Even though issues such as early marriage, inadequate care, and lack of awareness put mothers’ lives in danger, the Kapasia model was a source of hope. Now, instead of being improved and replicated across the country, the progress this model made is being undone by sheer neglect. Irrespective of the BNP government’s plans to implement its own grassroots healthcare model, the Kapasia model must be revived urgently. Staff and resource shortages must be addressed, the database must be updated and expectant mothers must be provided with the life-saving handbook. Since the 1990s, Bangladesh has remarkably reduced its maternal mortality rates. Any reversal of this progress is unacceptable.