Act 2017, be implemented in its letter and spirit. A multi-pronged approach will be required to address child marriage. At policy level Rules under this Act must be devised in a manner to create a positive impact in the society. At the grass root levels, massive awareness campaigns must be launched to raise awareness among masses working towards eradicating child marriage. 57. The maternal mortality rate remains a challenge with 70% of pregnant mothers suffer from acute anaemia60. It is estimated that about 16 women per 1 maternal death suffer from various diseases related to pregnancy and child birth e.g. Obstetric Fistula, Uterine Prolapse, anaemia, etc. The Government of Bangladesh has already set targets to reduce the mortality to 145 by 2015 and 63 by 2030 61. To reduce the maternal mortality rate, the government has taken several initiatives, one of which is to provide 24/7 service for the pregnant women around the country. Further, the Family and Health Welfare Ministry plans to introduce 4,000 family welfare centres (FWC) to provide services round-theclock62. 58. World Health Organization estimated 3.05 physicians and 1.07 nurses per 10,000 people respectively.63 This is insufficient to meet the demand. The proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel has been increased from 5% in 1990 to 42.1% in 2014 (BDHS 2014). But the achievement still could not meet the target set at 50 percent by 2015. Efforts will be needed both in the short term and the long term to address these issues. In the short term a well-structured training for the mid wives to engage with satellite clinics, coupled with human rights education, emphasizing the importance of delivering quality services respecting the rights of the patient needs to be implemented across the country. In the long term, adequate measures will be needed to increase the number of physicians, nurses and other health care professionals. 59. Bangladesh also had pronounced reductions in birth rate (fertility) from about 7 children per woman in 1970, 2.4 in 2007, 2.24 in 2012 and 2.2 children per woman in 2017 64. The increasing trend of using contraceptive has made significant contribution to prevent unwanted pregnancies. The use of contraceptives among married women has risen from 40 percent in 1991 to 62.1 percent in 2015 65 . The adolescent birth rate which is the age specific fertility rate for women aged 15 to 19 years has also declined from 79 per 1000 women in 1990 to 60 in 201366. The reduction of fertility rate not only contributed to the reduction of mortality, particularly maternal mortality but also slowing down the population growth in Bangladesh. The population growth is now 1.1867. 60. The improvement of health services has also made significant contribution to improve life expectancy of the people in Bangladesh. Between 1990 and 2010, life expectancy rose by 10 years, from 59 to 69 years. The life expectancy rate of the people has been increased to 60 http://www.thedailystar.net/maternal-mortality-affects-development-of-a-country-44215 https://www.albd.org/index.php/en/resources/special-reports/1473-bangladesh-an-example-in-child-and-maternal-health 62 ibid 63 MDG Progress Report 2015 64 http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/bangladesh-population/ 65 Sample Vital Registration System, Government of Bangladesh, 2015 66 MDG Progress Report 2015 67 Ibid 61 19