Rural women's access to health care in Bangladesh: swimming against the tide?

Large segments of the population in developing countries are deprived of a fundamental right: access to basic health care. The problem of access to health care is particularly acute in Bangladesh. One crucial determinant of health seeking among rural women is the accessibility of medical care and barriers to care that may develop because of location, financial requirements, bureaucratic responses to the patient, social distance between client and provider, and the sex of providers. This article argues that to increase accessibility fundamental changes are required not only in resource allocation but also in the very structure of health services delivery.