Under-five mortality rate cut by half in Bangladesh
FE Report | Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Bangladesh has made remarkable progress by cutting the number of deaths of under-five children by half since 1990, said a UNICEF flagship report - the state of the World's Children 2008: Child Survival.
The report said Bangladesh under -five mortality rate is now 69 per 1000 live births.
The report was launched at a city hotel Monday.
David Bassiouni, UNICEF Representative and AKM Zafar Ullah Khan, secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare jointly unveiled the Bangla and English versions of the publication at a programme in the city.
The report said through this progress, Bangladesh is now on track to achieve the millennium development goal - 4 on child mortality reduction.
The report said only six countries have achieved such rapid reduction.
Addressing the function David Bassiouni said despite this positive sign, disparities in education, income and access to services are still affecting child survival.
"Reaching the un-reachable and providing the most marginalised communities with adequate health care still remains a challenge for us today in Bangladesh," he added.
The report said the impact of simple, affordable life saving measures like exclusive breastfeeding, immunization and vitamin A supplementation have helped to reduce child death in recent years.
The report said that community-level integration of essential services for mothers, newborns and young children and sustainable improvements in national health systems can save the lives of most of the 26,000 under five children who die each day globally.
Addressing the ceremony, Health Secretary AKM Zafar Ullah said Bangladesh made impressive progress in MDG 4 which aims to reduce the global under five mortality rate by two thirds between 1990 and 2015.
"We have to reduce the number of child death from 9.7 million in 2006 to around 4.0 million by 2015," he said.
He said accomplishing this will require accelerated action on multiple fronts like eradicating poverty and hunger, improving maternal health, combating AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability through increasing the use of improved water and sanitation and developing a global partnership for development.
He said Bangladesh needs help from all concerned including community stakeholders, development partners, NGOs, private sector, civil society, and the media to finish the unfinished tasks relating to the improvement the child survival situation in the country.
However, the report reveals that far more needs to be done to increase access to treatments and means of prevention, so the devastating impact of pneumonia, diarrhea, childhood injuries and severe malnutrition can be better addressed.
The data in the publication was compiled from household survey as well as material from key partners including the World Health Organisation and the World Bank.
The report said neonatal deaths constitutes the main cause of mortality for children under one year in Bangladesh.
It also said drowning is the leading cause of death for children between one and four accounting for 26 per cent of death in this age group.
The report said despite a clear reduction in underweight prevalence among under-five children in Bangladesh, the rate remains very high accounting for around 8.0 million underweight children in the country.
The report said Bangladesh had made progress in providing clean water and sanitation but a bit more needs to be done as water and sanitation have direct impact on child health.
The report said Bangladesh has achieved success in immunisation coverage which has increased steadily during the last two decades.
The report said Bangladesh under -five mortality rate is now 69 per 1000 live births.
The report was launched at a city hotel Monday.
David Bassiouni, UNICEF Representative and AKM Zafar Ullah Khan, secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare jointly unveiled the Bangla and English versions of the publication at a programme in the city.
The report said through this progress, Bangladesh is now on track to achieve the millennium development goal - 4 on child mortality reduction.
The report said only six countries have achieved such rapid reduction.
Addressing the function David Bassiouni said despite this positive sign, disparities in education, income and access to services are still affecting child survival.
"Reaching the un-reachable and providing the most marginalised communities with adequate health care still remains a challenge for us today in Bangladesh," he added.
The report said the impact of simple, affordable life saving measures like exclusive breastfeeding, immunization and vitamin A supplementation have helped to reduce child death in recent years.
The report said that community-level integration of essential services for mothers, newborns and young children and sustainable improvements in national health systems can save the lives of most of the 26,000 under five children who die each day globally.
Addressing the ceremony, Health Secretary AKM Zafar Ullah said Bangladesh made impressive progress in MDG 4 which aims to reduce the global under five mortality rate by two thirds between 1990 and 2015.
"We have to reduce the number of child death from 9.7 million in 2006 to around 4.0 million by 2015," he said.
He said accomplishing this will require accelerated action on multiple fronts like eradicating poverty and hunger, improving maternal health, combating AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability through increasing the use of improved water and sanitation and developing a global partnership for development.
He said Bangladesh needs help from all concerned including community stakeholders, development partners, NGOs, private sector, civil society, and the media to finish the unfinished tasks relating to the improvement the child survival situation in the country.
However, the report reveals that far more needs to be done to increase access to treatments and means of prevention, so the devastating impact of pneumonia, diarrhea, childhood injuries and severe malnutrition can be better addressed.
The data in the publication was compiled from household survey as well as material from key partners including the World Health Organisation and the World Bank.
The report said neonatal deaths constitutes the main cause of mortality for children under one year in Bangladesh.
It also said drowning is the leading cause of death for children between one and four accounting for 26 per cent of death in this age group.
The report said despite a clear reduction in underweight prevalence among under-five children in Bangladesh, the rate remains very high accounting for around 8.0 million underweight children in the country.
The report said Bangladesh had made progress in providing clean water and sanitation but a bit more needs to be done as water and sanitation have direct impact on child health.
The report said Bangladesh has achieved success in immunisation coverage which has increased steadily during the last two decades.