We are failing to save our children

As per the latest numbers from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, in 2022 the country's under-one-year-old mortality rate was 25 per thousand, which increased to 27 in 2023. Five years ago this number was 21.
Additionally, 33 out of every thousand children under the age of five died, compared to 31 in 2022. Overall, the mortality rate increased to 6.1 in every thousand, up from 5.8 in 2022.
These are alarming numbers and show an even more alarming trend -- that we are failing to save Bangladeshis, especially our children.There are several factors, such as inadequate healthcare infrastructure, limited access to healthcare services, particularly in rural areas, and a high prevalence of non-communicable diseases, responsible for this grim trend -- one that we must look to eliminate with immediate effect.
There is no questioning the remarkable turnaround we have made since our independence, when our life expectancy stood at 46 years.
However, the fact that we continue to see an uptick in overall mortality rate, and the fact that we continue to see such an alarming rise in child mortality rate, should be cause for pause for the authorities concerned who, beyond gaudy GDP figures and counting the length of bridges and tunnels, should be looking out for the welfare of Bangladeshis.
As things stand, this downward trend is a dark spot that exposes the inadequacy of our healthcare and flies in the face of all the progress Bangladesh claims to have made as an economy.
After all, if we are failing to save children from early death, children who are to be our future, then is there any significance to this progress?