Population, Family Planning, and Reproductive Health Policy Harmonization in Bangladesh

Sameh El-Saharty, Karar Zunaid Ahsan and John F. May

No 92650, Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP) Discussion Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: Over the past 30 years, Bangladesh has achieved significant economic and human development progress, and demonstrated impressive policy as well as programmatic commitment to lowering the fertility level. However, its future socioeconomic prospects may be hampered by its population growth rate, depending on how quickly the fertility rates decline and at which point they stabilize. Projections estimate that the total population of Bangladesh in 2051 could increase to 218.1 million under a laissez faire projection scenario and 201.3 million under an accelerated fertility transition (AFT) scenario. This difference would have significant impacts on public spending, public services, and job creation. An AFT scenario would enable the country to improve the dependency ratios ? possibly resulting in economic benefits from harnessing the demographic dividend for several decades. To accelerate the demographic transition, the government will need to revitalize high-level coordination to ensure multisectoral engagement in population policies, including increasing the age at marriage, and improving education, skills development, job creation, and social safety nets for the vulnerable population groups. In addition, a sustained decline in fertility through increased access and coverage of family planning (FP) services is crucial, mainly by focusing on lagging regions and hard-to-reach areas, and by expanding the supply and provision of FP long acting and permanent methods. Strengthening the synergy and coordination of service delivery between the Health and FP directorates by building capacity for systems strengthening; promoting cross-referral between programs; and efficient provisioning of FP and reproductive health services through community clinics need to remain at the forefront of the government?s health improvement efforts in Bangladesh.

Keywords: abortion; abortions; access to contraceptives; access to information; aged; antenatal care; availability of family planning; barriers to family planning; behavior change; Birth Spacing; births; both sexes; child bearing; child health; Child rearing; childbirth; communication efforts; Community Health; Community Health Workers; condoms; contraception; contraceptive knowledge; contraceptive method; contraceptive methods; contraceptive practices; contraceptive prevalence; contraceptive supply; contraceptive use; contraceptives; demand for contraceptives; diseases; economic resources; equality; Ethical Considerations; exercises; family planning; Family Planning Focus; family planning methods; family planning program; family planning programs; family planning services; family planning use; family size; Family Welfare; female; female sterilization; females; FERTILITY; fertility attitudes; fertility behavior; fertility transition; fewer children; first child; first pregnancy; FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS; forms of contraception; Gender; Gender Differences; girls; health facilities; Health Policy; Health Workers; home; hospital; hospitals; household level; household responsibilities; houses; Human Development; husband; husbands; ideal family size; ideal number of children; immunizations; importance of family planning; informed consent; injectable contraceptives; International Conference on Population; interpersonal communication; intervention; intrauterine contraceptive devices; knowledge of family planning; lack of knowledge; large families; large number of people; laws; level of fertility; limited resources; limiting family size; Local community; low contraceptive prevalence; male health; male health workers; male involvement; marital status; marketing; mass media; medicines; menstrual cycle; menstrual problems; minority; modern contraceptive methods; mother; mothers; need for family planning; newborns; no more children; number of children; number of couples; number of households; Nutrition; obesity; old age; opposite sex; Parents; patient; polio; Population and Development; Population Council; population growth; population growth rate; Population Studies; progress; Public Health; purchasing power; quality of services; radio; Religious Leaders; replacement level; reproductive age; reproductive behavior; reproductive decision; reproductive desires; reproductive goals; reproductive health; reproductive health care; reproductive health interventions; reproductive intentions; reproductive lives; reproductive patterns; respect; rural areas; rural communities; service providers; sex; Sharia; small families; social acceptability; social norms; Social pressure; social science; spouse; spouses; status of women; sterilization; supply of contraceptives; television; TV; unwanted children; unwanted pregnancies; urban areas; urban centers; urban community; use of contraception; use of contraceptives; wife; will; wives; woman (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: pages 60 pages
Date: 2014-11
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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