Although child and maternal
malnutrition has been reduced in Bangladesh, the prevalence of
underweight (weight-for-age z-score <-2) among children aged less
than five years is still high (41%). Nearly one-third of women are
undernourished with body mass index of <18.5 kg/m2. The
prevalence of anaemia among young infants, adolescent girls, and
pregnant women is still at unacceptable levels. Despite the successes in
specific programmes, such as the Expanded Programme on Immunization and
vitamin A supplementation, programmes for nutrition interventions are
yet to be implemented at scale for reaching the entire population. Given
the low annual rate of reduction in child undernutrition of 1.27
percentage points per year, it is unlikely that Bangladesh would be able
to achieve the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goal to address
undernutrition. This warrants that the policy-makers and programme
managers think urgently about the ways to accelerate the progress. The
Government, development partners, non-government organizations, and the
academia have to work in concert to improve the coverage of basic and
effective nutrition interventions, including exclusive breastfeeding,
appropriate complementary feeding, supplementation of micronutrients to
children, adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, management of
severe acute malnutrition and deworming, and hygiene interventions,
coupled with those that address more structural causes and indirectly
improve nutrition. The entire health system needs to be revitalized to
overcome the constraints that exist at the levels of policy, governance,
and service-delivery, and also for the creation of demand for the
services at the household level. In addition, management of nutrition in
the aftermath of natural disasters and stabilization of prices of foods
should also be prioritized.
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