Securing maternal health through comprehensive reproductive health services: lessons from Bangladesh.

During the past decade, there has been a noticeable reduction of maternal mortality in Bangladesh, in part because of government policy and program initiatives. Of particular note is the comprehensive reproductive health strategy adopted in 1996 under the country's first Health and Population Sector Strategy and the 5-year Health and Population Sector Programme (1998-2003). The latter includes actions in most of the areas recommended in the World Health Organization's 2004 report, Reproductive Health Strategy to Accelerate Progress Towards the Attainment of International Development Goals and Targets. After assessing Bangladesh's achievements and challenges in the design and implementation of a maternal health strategy, I concluded that mobilizing and nurturing political will is the key to sustaining policy commitment to comprehensive reproductive health.