Maternal-Child Health and Family Planning: User Perspectives and Service Constraints in Rural Bangladesh

Abstract

This article presents a microanalysis of interactions between female fieldworkers and women in rural Bangladesh, and a discussion of the broader organizational constraints that hamper service delivery. It is argued that the fieldworker, herself a rural woman, is faced with considerable demand for both maternal-child health (MCH) and reproductive health care services, but that operational constraints prevent her from realizing her potential in both of these areas. Qualitative data show that, in the eyes of rural women, contraceptive use and health care are intricately intertwined, and that this association often raises a range of questions that the worker cannot address competently. A number of specific operational barriers--worker densities, staff motivation, supervision, technical competence, supplies--are identified. These barriers reflect a general institutional weakness in the Ministry of Health bureaucracy that prevents it from organizing itself to deliver user-oriented health and family planning services while maintaining adequate and appropriate standards of care.