The timeline set by the United Nations in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) pronounced in
the year 2000 is coming to end in 2015. While the United Nations has already came up with a new set of 17 Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) to follow the MDGs, efforts are underway to assess the success and failures of countries in
achieving the MDGs. Bangladesh has made tremendous progress in achieving most of the MDGs including those related to
maternal and child health. The maternal mortality ratio and the infant mortality rate in Bangladesh declined from 507 and 149
in 1990 to 209 and 53 in 2010 respectively. However, district level review suggests that numerous constraints and challenges
confront the health system in sustaining these achievements. Moreover, desegregated data strongly indicate that the progress is
even across different regions of the country. Most importantly, significant gaps still persist between the rich and the poor. For
example, while the overall IMR is 43 per 1,000 live births among the highest income quintile, the figure is 84 among the
lowest income quintile. In other words, Bangladesh must forcefully address regional disparity and rich-poor gap to ensure
sustainable and equitable development in all aspects of health. The study identified a few strategic policy directions for this
purpose including aggressive pro-poor and sub-national development planning. To ensure availability of and accessibility to
primary health care for all, the study strongly argues for the establishment of community clinics throughout the country
equipped with skilled midwives and adequate number of community health workers.