An Assessment on Coverage of Basic Social Services in Bangladesh

Abstract

Early childhood is a crucial stage of life in terms of a child’s physical, intellectual, emotional and social development. Early life nutrition is critical to health and productive life. The first 1,000 days start at conception and end at around 2 years of age of the child. During the early years of life an infant’s nutritional health critically depends on how the family, especially the caregivers, act. Parents must have knowledge of the changing food requirements of the child. Equally important are parents creating the cultural and psychological environment that influences the development of food habits, setting patterns for later years. Appropriate nutrition has a positive effect on the development of the children. Even though infants vary widely in their growth patterns, there is value in being familiar with typical patterns of growth and development. One of the preconditions for a healthy baby is antenatal care, – an essential part of pregnancy, which should start as soon as conception. Having a healthy pregnancy is one of the best ways to promote a healthy birth. Antenatal care provides caregivers with an opportunity to explain the importance of proper nutrition during pregnancy and breastfeeding to expectant mothers. In the last decade, the health, nutrition, and population sector program of Bangladesh has adopted a national strategy for maternal health focusing on emergency obstetric care for reducing maternal mortality, focusing especially on early detection and appropriate referral of complications, and improvement of quality care. Since 2001, the government embarked on the program to retrain existing government community healthcare workers as community skilled birth attendants to meet the primary operational strategy for achieving the 2015 target of 50% skilled attendance at birth. Besides, the latest health sector program, coordinated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has focused on targeting areas with high maternal mortality ratios and establishing e-health in all community clinics. Other policies with similar objectives include the National Health Policy 2011 and the National Population Policy 2012.