USAID: Bangladesh: Population & Health

With support from USAID and other donors over the past 25 years, Bangladesh has made impressive gains in population and child health:

A decline in the total fertility rate from 7 births per woman in the mid-1970s to 3.0 in 2004.

An increase in the contraceptive prevalence rate from 8% in the mid-1970s to 58% in 2004.

A decline in infant mortality rates from 150/1,000 live births in the mid-1970s to 65/1,000 in 2004.

A reduction in mortality for children under five years of age from about 250/1,000 in the mid-1970s to 88/1,000 in 2003.

Use of clinics operated by NGOs increased from 24.2 million patients contacts in 2004 to 26.5 million patients contacts in 2005.

Antenatal care among pregnant women increased by 16%.

Distribution of oral contraceptives, injectables and condoms at the NGO clinics increased by 9.5%, 8.5% and 23.2%, respectively.

Social marketing sales of oral rehydration salts rose by 6%, from 120 million sachets in 2004 to 140 million sachets in 2005.

Treatment of acute respiratory infection increased by 9.4%. Treatment of childhood diarrhea increased by 7%.

The full coverage rate for urban areas of the National Immunization Day continued at a high level of 97%.