Steady economic growth alone cannot be the only means for Bangladesh to achieve the targets of millennium developments goals (MDGs) by 2015, rather improving accountability and transparency of service delivery in the public sector is key to reaching the targets, said a World Bank (WB) report. The report titled To the MDGs and beyond: accountability and institutional invention in Bangladesh released on February 15 at the WB office said that Bangladesh has already made significant progress in its MDG targets like increasing gender parity in education and cutting infant mortality rates.

However, to make further pace, an effective partnership is needed among government, service providers and local government to ensure accountability and transparency of public services, the report said. Focusing on maternal mortality and child mortality, the two most challenging targets of MDGs, the report said achievements made on these two indicators greatly vary not only between rural and urban areas but also between different regions in Bangladesh.

As the quality in public health services is poor, the MDG target of 143 deaths per one lakh births by 2015 is most unlikely to be met unless the accountability and transparency of the services are improved. The urban share of Bangladesh population will increase by 25 to 30 percent between 2005 and 2015, and will have implications on the achievement of MDG targets. But the rapid population growth in urban areas is often not matched with the growth in health and education services.