Population, Family Planning and Reproductive Health Policy Harmonization in Bangladesh
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...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Publications & Research |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/11/20391008/population-family-planning-reproductive-health-policy-harmonization-bangladesh http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20663 |
| Summary: | 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. |
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