Bangladesh struggles to provide health care in urban slum areas, Guardian reports

As more people move into the urban slum areas surrounding Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, basic services such as water, sanitation and health care are being stretched to capacity by "[n]ew residents [who] are increasingly pushed out to the city's fringes," the Guardian reports. "According to health care workers, hospitals are already unable to meet the growing demand for treatment and services," the newspaper writes, adding, "Dhaka's largest hospital is operating at 50 percent staff capacity and trying to accommodate 3,000 patients in a facility with just 800 beds." In addition, "no health care facilities are provided in the slums, [so] Dhaka's newest -- and poorest -- residents are facing a health care black hole," according to the Guardian. The news service says women and girls "most often fall through the cracks," and describes one project "that aims to bridge this gap and prevent urbanization creating a free fall in maternal and infant mortality levels" (Kelly, 9/18).