Millennium Development Goals :: MDG

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Striving for Achieving MDGs

Eradicate Poverty & Hunger

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Universal Primary Education

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Gender Equality & Women Empowerment

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Reduce Child Mortality

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Improve Maternal Health

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Combat HIV/AIDS & Other Diseases

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Environmental Sustainability

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Global Partnership for Development

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Government - Ministry of Health & Family Welfare

Bangladesh’s maternal mortality rate of 4.5 deaths per 1,000 live births is one of the highest in the world (MOHFW, 1997). Ninety-five percent of all deliveries still take place in the home (Mitra et al., 1997), and almost a third of Bangladeshi women report chronic or residual morbidities associated with childbirth (MotherCare et al., 1997).

Official estimates indicate that approximately 15,000 pregnancy-related deaths are also occurring in Bangladesh annually (MOHFW, 1997; BBS, 1997c), although some estimates are as high as 28,000 deaths per year and even higher (de Francisco,1997; WHO/UNICEF, 1996). Approximately one in every 40 women dies of maternal-related causes (de Francisco, 1997). Seventy percent of pregnant women are anemic, making them more vulnerable to the effects of hemorrhage (MOHFW, 1998b).

Development in Health & Family Planning sector:

Twenty years ago, many experts claimed that family planning and child survival interventions would face insurmountable obstacles in Bangladesh because of the nation's conservative culture and low standard of living. Despite serious challenges along the way, Bangladesh has achieved impressive reductions in fertility and in infant and child mortality over the past three decades. Nonetheless, the population continues to grow, and poverty and illness deny many families the opportunity for long, healthy, productive lives. Continued emphasis on family planning is required to reach replacement fertility, and basic health services must be improved.

Although Bangladesh is currently a low HIV/AIDS prevalence country (<1%), it is at great risk of a rapidly expanding epidemic due to the widespread practice of risky behaviors. Bangladesh has widely available commercial sex, high rates of sexually transmitted diseases, low levels of knowledge about HIV/AIDS and very low levels of condom use.

Development in Health Sector:

With support from various donors over the past twenty-five years, Bangladesh has made impressive gains in indicators of population and child health. Among these are:

A decline in the total fertility rate from 7 births per woman in the mid-1970s to 3.3 in 1999-2000.

An increase in the contraceptive prevalence rate from 8% in the mid-1970s to 54% in 1999-2000.

A decline in infant mortality rates from 150/1,000 live births in the mid-1970s to 66/1,000 in 1999-2000.

A reduction in mortality for children under five years of age from about 250/1,000 in the mid-1970s to 94/1,000 in 1999-2000.

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