Poor women, in both rural and urban areas in the northern region of Bangladesh, suffer from high maternal
mortality rates, and compared to other regions, this group also has a low proportion of up-taking ante natal care (ANC) and of
births assisted by skilled attendants. This endeavour therefore took an attempt to critically examine the availability of and
accessibility to maternal health care (MHC) services, provided by government and non-government organisations (NGOs) in
the northern part of Bangladesh, with the specific objective of finding out how far poor women had the availability of and
accessibility to MHC services. The study used both primary and secondary data to meet its objectives. Triangulation of
methods (questionnaire interviews of service users and providers, and observations) were employed to collect primary data. A
large number (160) of mothers who were pregnant or delivered at least one baby during the last ten years and the heads of
relevant health centres were interviewed. An assortment of articles, reports, theses and books were consulted in complementing
and substantiating the arguments in this study. The main findings of the study suggest that there has been an increase in the
availability of and accessibility to MHC services. However, the increment varies across regions and social groups. Lastly, it
concludes that rural, poor and less educated mothers have less availability of and access to MHC services compared to urban,
non-poor and better educated women.