Bangladesh has made significant progress in improving urban health in the past seven years, with the target of total fertility rate achieved ahead of time, according to the preliminary results of Bangladesh Urban Health Survey 2013.
The statistics were revealed at a dissemination seminar at the capital’s Bangabandhu International Conference Center yesterday.
Addressing the event as chief guest, Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammad Nasim said Bangladesh had made remarkable achievements in urban health sector between 2013 and 2006, when the first urban health survey was conducted.
The intra-urban inequality between slum and non-slum residents in health service utilisation has declined and more people in the slum dwellers are using family planning methods, with an 11% increase since 2006, the minister said.
The survey, conducted by National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT), covered 54,000 households – both slum and non-slum – in the nine city corporations, all district municipalities and other large townships.
The target of total fertility rate of 2 births per woman, set by the Health, Population and Nutrition Sector Development Programme under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare , was achieved between 2010 and 2013, according to the survey results.
Yet, there are challenges that still require addressing. There has been no change in the rate of teenage pregnancy in both the slum and non-slum areas, and the number of stunted children under the age of five is more than half.
“Inequity still prevails between the slum and non-slum population in terms of access to antenatal care and skilled birth attendants during delivery,” the health minister said.
Md Rafiqul Islam Sarkar, research director at the NIPORT, told the Dhaka Tribune that the preliminary findings shed light on the urgent need for effective public-private partnerships to further improve urban health.
In the undertaking of the survey, the financial assistance was provided by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the UK’s Department for International Development. The technical expertise was provided by USAID-funded cooperative MEASURE Evaluation and the ICDDR,B, a health research organisation.
The seminar was also attended by Zahid Maleque state minister for health and family welfare, MM Niazuddin, secretary at the ministry, Manzoor Hossain, senior secretary at the Local Government Division, Dan Mozena, US ambassador to Bangladesh, and Robert Gibson, British High Commissioner to Bangladesh. AM Badrudduja, director-general of the NIPORT, presided over the event.
Key findings of the results
Compared to the 2006 survey, the median living space per person has increased in both slum and non-slum areas. More than 90% communities in the slums and other urban areas have a health facility available within two kilometres. Fertility is considerably below the replacement level in all urban areas, including slums.
However, a pattern of early childbearing is observed, with almost one in five women giving birth before age 20 in the slum areas, and around one in eight in the non-slum areas.
The contraceptive prevalence rate has been increased to 70% in the urban slums and 65% in non-slum areas since 2006.
On the downside, the percentage of women receiving antenatal care from medically trained providers has declined from 2006 to 2013 in both slum (62% to 54%) and non-slum (85% to 83%) areas. Only 2-4% newborns in all urban domains receive all the essential newborn-care practices.
In slums, under-five mortality rate has declined by 24% since 2006, and infant mortality rate by 14%. Only 26% of children of age 6-23 months in slums are fed with proper infant and young child feeding practices, compared to the 40% children in non-slum areas.