The document discusses Bangladesh's population policy and its objectives, strategies, and challenges. The key points are: 1) The population policy aims to reduce fertility rates, increase family planning access, and stabilize the population at 210 million by 2060 through strategies like expanding reproductive health services and raising awareness. 2) However, there are several challenges including social factors that influence fertility preferences, lack of male involvement, and economic insecurity that encourages large families. 3) While the policy addresses issues like maternal health and urbanization, the analysis finds gaps remain in fully dealing with concerns around adolescents, HIV/AIDS, and increasing contraceptive access that require recommendations to strengthen future policies.

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Roll-130431
Bangladesh population policy an Analytical review
Introduction:
The well-being of people can be affected by the policies regarding population growth. Policies can have
devastating or constructive effects. Sometimes it is the absence of population policy that causes negative
results, but other times it is the continuation of restrictive policies that directly influence health outcomes.
Background:
Soon after liberation in 1971, development policies in Bangladesh took into cognizance the
pressing need to reduce population growth rate in order to ease mounting pressure on its finite
resources. The sense of urgency was amply expressed in the First 5-Year Plan statement “No
civilized measure would be too drastic to keep the population of Bangladesh on the smaller side
of 15 corers for the sheer ecological viability of the nation” (Planning Commission 1974). Since
mid-1970s, major efforts were made to expand access to family planning services and widen
choice of methods. These measures greatly contributed to rise in contraceptive prevalence. All
subsequent governments maintained a strong emphasis on population programs though
commitment to implementation began slackening since mid-1980s. The current population policy,
formulated in October 2004, laid down a target of reaching replacement-level fertility by 2010
and to stabilize the population at 210 million around the year 2060 (MOHFW 2004). In terms of
expressed intent and broad objectives, the stated policies, as well as program approaches, are
reasonably adequate. However, as noted earlier, operationally viable issue-specific strategies need
to be designed to achieve the stated objectives.
Objectives:
The objectives of the National Population Policy are to improve the status of family planning, maternal
and child health including reproductive health services and to improve the living standard of the people of
Bangladesh. The following objectives are taken for controlling population.
 Reduce Total Fertility Rate (TFR) and increase the use of family planning methods among
eligible couples through raising awareness of family planning.
 Attain NRR equal to one by the year 2010 so as to stabilize population around 2060.
 Ensure adequate availability and access of Reproductive Health Services, especially family
planning services to all including information, counseling and services for adolescents.
 Improve maternal health with emphasis on reduction of maternal mortality.
 Reduce RTIs/STIs and prevent spread of HIV/AIDS.
 Reduce infant and under five mortality rates.
 Reduce maternal and child malnutrition.
 Promote and actively support programs for elimination of gender disparity in education, health
and nutrition.
 Ensure Early Childhood Development (ECD) program.

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 Ensure and support gender equity.
 Develop the human resource capacity of planners, managers and service providers,
including improved data collection, research and dissemination.
 Actively support measures to provide food and social security and shelter for the
disadvantaged including the elderly, destitute, physically and mentally retarded persons.
 Actively support measures to regulate and reduce rural to urban migration.
 Support measures for environmental sustainability with emphasis on access to safe drinking
water.
 Support poverty alleviating strategies and conducive environment for improved quality of life.
 Ensure coordination among relevant Ministries in strengthening population and development
linkages and making their respective mandates and implementation strategies more population
focused.
Implementation Strategies:
Service Oriented Strategies
In order to address the problems of high fertility, mortality and morbidity, RH-FP services are
critical and there is considerable scope for improvement in this area. Some strategies proposed in this area are:
 Provision for Maternal, child and reproductive health services through a comprehensive client centered
approach.
 Ensure full coverage of safe delivery through skilled birth attendants;
 Special attention to young, low parity and newly married couples.
 Priority should be given in the provisions of social services to the couples with one child for their
adopting small family norm.
 Establishment of Union level Health and Family Welfare Centers, wherever needed and appointment of
a doctor in these centers will be pursued in a phased manner to increase availability and access to quality
care;
 Ensure the supply of Medicine and equipment for all service center are available wherever and
whenever they are needed;
 Ensure access to essential information and services especially amongst high risk behavior groups for
prevention of STIs, RTIs and HIV/AIDS infection;
 Ensure supply of Vitamin A and other micronutrients and prevention of malnutrition
among children and pregnant women; and Support and ensure full coverage of child immunization
Adolescent Welfare Services:
For the well-being of the adolescents following steps can be taken in collaboration with NGOs and community-
based organizations:
 Provide information and services, including counseling services aimed at (i) delaying age at marriage
and first birth as far as possible; (ii) adequate spacing between children and iii) improved access to
reproductive health education and methods of preventing STIs, HIV/AIDS infection;

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 Provide credit facilities and vocational training especially to unmarried young women and men. To
this end, support to establish a revolving fund may be provided;
 Provide formal and non-formal education to both in-school and out-of-school adolescent
boys and girls;
 Provide adolescent RH and life skills education as well as counseling for parents,
teachers and service providers on how to address adolescents in respect of SRH issues.
Gender Equity and Empowerment:
In terms of gender equity and equality, women in Bangladesh are in a disadvantageous position. In order to ensure better
gender balance, the following strategies call for urgent attention:
 Conforming to gender sensitivity Government and Non-Government program.
 Improve participation of women in decision-making roles at national and local levels.
 Provide child care support systems, including crèches at work places in urban and rural areas;
 Strengthen institutional capacity and resources of the women’s development.
 Eliminate all forms of violence and sexual abuse, of women’s and children’s.
 Promote male participation in household responsibilities and make them more responsive to family
planning and reproductive health care needs and essentialities of women.
 Create equal opportunity for both boys and girls in education, nutrition and health service.
Populationand Development Strategies:
The Population and Development strategies will emphasize the following four areas.
 Welfare Services for Elderly and Poor…
 Urban Migration and Planned Urbanization…
 Coordinated Collection and Use of Data…
 Population and Environment…
Human Resources Development:
The following education and training strategies need to be pursued for human resources development:
(a) Introduce population, public health and health science in all levels of education particularly in the
curriculum of Secondary School Education.
(b) Undertake initiative to incorporate population, family planning, maternal and child health and
reproductive health issues in different curriculums of medical education.
(c) Design and implement appropriate training and learning programs for managers and service providers
from different disciplines.
(e) Expose policy makers, planners, program managers of various Ministries to population and development
linkages so that they can prepare and implement sectorial plans and programs with more focus on
population;
(f) Develop capacity of health and population training institutes/HRD.
(g) Arrange higher education and training in population science and reproductive health.

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Decentralization of Population PolicyActivities:
Decentralization and community involvement are essential in order to ensure that women, children and other
vulnerable groups have adequate access to services. Strategies to achieve this objective are:
 Decentralize population activities and ensure the people’s participation in population, nutrition and
health activities, decentralization of services through devolution of power to the Upazila level and
further below;
 Prepare action plan through participation of local elites, opinion makers, women’s representatives of
poorer section of the society along with the local level Government official;
 Empower local level committees to generate funds for their use in improving quality and access to
reproductive health services;
 Orient mothers about family planning, maternal and child health and reproductive health
through commissioning mother’s centers at Union level and below
Participation of NGOs and Private Sector:
The Government has the primary responsibility of policy making, planning, guidance and
implementation of socio- economic development in respect of population. However, the NGOs
and private sector are important partners of the Government in this endeavor. To achieve this objective, the
following strategies shall be pursued:
 Provide support to the registered NGOs in Health, Nutrition and Population sectors to
work in the underserved areas;
 Encourage them to undertake motivational works and services particularly for the poor
and other vulnerable groups;
 Engage them in awareness creation activities regarding the benefits of delayed marriage
and delayed birth, health and nutrition issues as well as of STIs, RTIs, HIV/AIDS;
 Utilize NGOs and private sector effectively in community mobilization in population,
family planning, maternal and child health and reproductive health activities; and
 Ensure coordination and intimate linkages of the NGOs and private sector with the
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and other relevant ministries and institutions and
avoid duality
Critical review of policy:
 Though contraceptive reduce psychic costs but is hardly likely to alter the motivation of the average
couple.
 The assumption that increasing contraceptive prevalence was the aim of policy has also caused a
contraceptive bias in service provision, even to the extent of marginalizing health services required to
deal with health needs of contraceptive users.
 It has also produced a service structure that is gender biased, placing all the costs of using modern
contraceptives disproportionately on women, but at the same time denying women’s decision making
power by restricting their choice of service. For example, women typically do not have any
preference in choice of method and require husband’s permission to obtain an MR. It is inevitable
that a Programme driven by the belief that attaining demographic targets is the goal of policy will

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also be unlikely to bring about any significant change in fertility preferences and family building
behavior.
 The second important implication for policy is that of financial and Programme sustainability in a
context where further reductions in the birth rate through contraceptive prevalence will be
increasingly difficult and more costly to attain, as already evident from the plateauing of fertility
levels.
 The strategy of increasing age at marriage has a very strong rationale on the ground of improving
women’s status but will require influencing fertility decisions and societal norms, which may not lend
themselves readily to a service type intervention.
 The policy emphasize on the women contraceptive process but it does not say anything about the men’s
contribution of the birth of children.
 Motivational and service interventions should be consolidated to provide maximum support to those
women who are already strongly motivated, such as garment factory workers and users of microcredit,
and promote their role as innovators and trendsetters.
 To control the fertility rate improving provision of job or work facility in the rural area. If this goal can
adopt, rural to urban migration will be possibly reduced.
 The policy strategy say that the increasing age of marry but there are a problem in the birth of child in
the context of Bangladesh the women’s maturity age are 18-21. So they adopt their reproductive
performance within this age time. If marriage occurred in late like 28-30 the women’s gradually lose
their fertility, sometimes they give birth mentally disorder type of children.
 The goal of this policy is to raise interval of given birth but it is impossible without the positive
cooperation of the couple.
Obstacles/barriers:
Some socialfactor affecting on the population policy these are given below as a point… 1) Women’s
perspectives, 2) Education, 3) Age at marriage, early child bearing and adolescent health, 4) Development of
community institution 5) poverty 6) economic status and the empowerment of women etc.
Economic insecurity in turn, encourage people to have large families to create fallback space in adverse
situations.
Some political matter always influence the high fertility rate. some country in the world need more
manpower for the defensive of country they need more soldier for blessing of their country. For this reason
they always influence to adopt more than one children.
Conclusion:
This document examined how Bangladesh’s existing and proposed population policies and programs have
dealt with some of the country’s important population and development issues including unmet contraceptive
needs, adolescent population growth, high maternal mortality and morbidity, HIV/AIDS and STD concerns,
and increasing urbanization. The analysis revealed that these issues have been addressed to some extent but
there were some important gaps. Recommendations have been proposed to fill these gaps and better address
this population and development issues in future population policies and programs.