HEALTH AND NUTRITION

• Bangladesh has made significant  progress in improving the health of its population, and is one of the few developing countries that is on track to achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5.  On top of the progress listed above, in 1990 the infant mortality rate was 100 deaths per 1000 live births and by 2006 it had declined to 52 deaths per 1000 live births.

• To accelerate progress towards achievement of MDG 4, UNICEF is focusing its support in the following areas; i) improving community and household care seeking behaviours for sick children and neonates, i) working in selected districts to develop sustainable programs that will reduce drowning; especially among children aged 1 to 4, for whom it is the biggest single killer, and iii) the expanded programme on immunisation (EPI) with emphasis on the poor performing districts and hard-toreach areas.  EPI annually vaccinates about 3 million children by their 1st birthday.   These networks were channelled for the Measles Catch Up Campaign in 2005-2006, which saw 35 million children vaccinated against the preventable disease.

• For MDG 5, UNICEF support is targeted at further reductions in maternal mortality, and addressing violence against women.  Emphasis is on ensuring the rights of women to safe pregnancy and delivery through strengthening emergency obstetric care facilities, linked to improved referral and community mobilisation for birth planning and preparedness. UNICEF has helped upgrade 191 emergency obstetric care facilities at the district and upazila levels to provide comprehensive and basic services.  In a country where 9 out of 10 births occur at home, UNICEF also works to improve antenatal and postnatal services and create awareness about the "danger signs" of  pregnancy and delivery.  Pregnant women, their spouses and newborn babies will also have access to prevention of parent to child HIV transmission at selected sites.

• To improve nutritional status, UNICEF supports interventions to prevent micronutrient deficiencies, including salt iodization, vitamin  A supplementation, iron-folate supplementation and deworming.  These activities include the sixmonthly Vitamin  A+ campaigns which reach up to 18 million children all over the country. UNICEF also plays a leading role in promoting behaviour change for improved nutrition of children and women, including the promotion of breastfeeding, infant and young child feeding practices.