Fertility rate declines, use of contraceptive increases

This was revealed at a dissemination seminar on Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2004 in the city yesterday.

Lowest fertility has been recorded in Rajshahi and Khulna divisions (2.6 and 2.8) and highest in Sylhet and Chittagong divisions (4.2 and 3.7).

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Bangladeshi women, on an average, now have three children, said a preliminary report on the survey.

Contraceptive use continues to increase in the country. Currently 58 percent of married couples are using a contraceptive method compared to 54 percent four years ago.

The gap in the use of contraceptives between the urban and the rural has also been reduced significantly over the years.

According to the report, use of antenatal care has been increased significantly among the pregnant women. Almost half of the pregnant women received at least one antenatal care visit from a trained doctor, nurse or midwife for their last birth.

The mortality rate among 1 to 4-year-old children declined by 20 percent in last 4 years but infant mortality had not changed recently and remained as high as 65 death per 1000 births.

There has been significant increase in vaccination coverage in recent years and three-quarters of the children 12-23 months of age are fully immunised with BCG, three doses of polio, DPT and measles. But many children are malnourished and 40 percent are considered to be short for their age and half are underweight, the report added.

In last four years, knowledge of HIV/AIDS among the women has increased.

But, despite the rise in awareness, only four out of ten women know on any valid way to avoid HIV/AIDS and one-third of men still do not know of any valid way to prevent it, said the report.

About arsenic in drinking water, one in eleven households has unsafe level of arsenic in drinking water.

According to the survey, Chittagong and Sylhet divisions have the highest proportion of households with unsafe level of arsenic in their drinking water.

Speaking as chief guest at the seminar Health and Family Welfare Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said the level of unwanted fertility remains still high and fertility rate would be substantively lower if all unwanted births could be avoided.

He urged all government, non-government and private sectors to extend their assistance and co-operation to ensure the quality of health, nutrition and family planning services and march forward together to attain a healthy and prosperous society.

Health and Family Welfare Secretary AFM Sarwar Kamal presided over the seminar while Director General of the Directorate of Health Services Prof Mizanur Rahman, Director General of the Directorate of Family Planing M Fazlur Rahman, and Charies Llewellyn of the USAID also spoke.

National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT) and Macro International of the United States organised the seminar.

US Agency for International Development (USAID) in Dhaka funded the survey.