Stark disparities in social, health sectors detected between dists
Monday, 25 January 2010
FE Report
Although Bangladesh has made progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), there exist huge disparities in the country's 64 districts, a survey showed.
The survey, conducted by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) from April to May in 2009 in association with United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), found a large gap between the best and the worst performing districts in the fields of education, child health, maternal health, HIV/AIDS, access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation.
This was disclosed at a workshop, where the preliminary report on the surveyed findings were made public, on the 10th round of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) jointly organised by BBS and UNICEF in the capital.
Planning Minister AK Khandker inaugurated the workshop, while Habib Ullah Mazumder, secretary of Planning Division, Carel De Rooy, representative of UNICEF, Kazi Akhtar Uddin Ahmed, joint secretary of Planning Division spoke. Md Shahjahan Ali Mollah, director general of BBS, chaired the workshop.
Twenty-four social indicators were assessed, but the preliminary report presented the findings for nine indicators. Using a composite index based on these nine indicators, the MICS ranks each district according to their level of performance.
The report showed Jhenidah, Meherpur, Munshiganj, Panchagarh and Narayanganj were the best five performing districts, while Cox's Bazar, Rangamati, Sunamganj, Khagrachhari and Bandarban came out as the worst performers.
In child mortality, Sherpur came out as the worst performing district with 102 deaths per 1,000 live births. Pabna recorded 43 per 1,000 to become the best performer.
The proportion of births attended by a skilled attendant is highest in Meherpur with 61 per cent, while Bandarban became the worst performer with just 8 per cent despite the national average is 24 per cent.
Meherpur again turned out to be the best performing district in the area of net attendance rate in primary education with 91 per cent. Bandarban hit the bottom in this category with just 60.6 per cent attendance.
The survey, which studied 300,000 households, showed Bangladesh has made major progress in registering the birth of children under five, jumping from 10 per cent of children's birth registered in 2006 to 53.6 per cent.
The survey confirms that Bangladesh has reached gender parity in primary education, but not yet in secondary education.
Progress is also recorded in the retention rate of pupils at primary schools as almost 80 per cent of the children who start grade one reach the last grade of primary school compared to only 63.6 per cent in 2006.
Access to improved source of water is almost universal with 97.8 per cent, but the report indicates that 12.6 per cent of the households' drinking water exceeds Bangladesh's standards for arsenic content.
Although Bangladesh has made progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), there exist huge disparities in the country's 64 districts, a survey showed.
The survey, conducted by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) from April to May in 2009 in association with United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), found a large gap between the best and the worst performing districts in the fields of education, child health, maternal health, HIV/AIDS, access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation.
This was disclosed at a workshop, where the preliminary report on the surveyed findings were made public, on the 10th round of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) jointly organised by BBS and UNICEF in the capital.
Planning Minister AK Khandker inaugurated the workshop, while Habib Ullah Mazumder, secretary of Planning Division, Carel De Rooy, representative of UNICEF, Kazi Akhtar Uddin Ahmed, joint secretary of Planning Division spoke. Md Shahjahan Ali Mollah, director general of BBS, chaired the workshop.
Twenty-four social indicators were assessed, but the preliminary report presented the findings for nine indicators. Using a composite index based on these nine indicators, the MICS ranks each district according to their level of performance.
The report showed Jhenidah, Meherpur, Munshiganj, Panchagarh and Narayanganj were the best five performing districts, while Cox's Bazar, Rangamati, Sunamganj, Khagrachhari and Bandarban came out as the worst performers.
In child mortality, Sherpur came out as the worst performing district with 102 deaths per 1,000 live births. Pabna recorded 43 per 1,000 to become the best performer.
The proportion of births attended by a skilled attendant is highest in Meherpur with 61 per cent, while Bandarban became the worst performer with just 8 per cent despite the national average is 24 per cent.
Meherpur again turned out to be the best performing district in the area of net attendance rate in primary education with 91 per cent. Bandarban hit the bottom in this category with just 60.6 per cent attendance.
The survey, which studied 300,000 households, showed Bangladesh has made major progress in registering the birth of children under five, jumping from 10 per cent of children's birth registered in 2006 to 53.6 per cent.
The survey confirms that Bangladesh has reached gender parity in primary education, but not yet in secondary education.
Progress is also recorded in the retention rate of pupils at primary schools as almost 80 per cent of the children who start grade one reach the last grade of primary school compared to only 63.6 per cent in 2006.
Access to improved source of water is almost universal with 97.8 per cent, but the report indicates that 12.6 per cent of the households' drinking water exceeds Bangladesh's standards for arsenic content.