Third and Fourth Periodic Report on CRC - Unicef

<strong>Third</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Fourth</strong> <strong>Periodic</strong> <strong>Report</strong>
There have been various interventions that helped in reduction of mortality rates. Access to vaccination is
foremost among them. The BCG coverage was as high as 96 percent in 2003 which went up to 98 percent in
2006. The access to immunization in Bangladesh is very high as seen from the Table below. The rate of measles
vaccination was 69 percent in 2003 which went up to 78 percent in 2006. However, it is recognized that the
percentage of fully immunized children needs to increase further.
National Immunization Day (NID) is being observed for many years very successfully <strong>and</strong> there was not a single
case of confirmed polio in the country between 2001 <strong>and</strong> 2005. However, several polio cases were detected in
2006 <strong>and</strong> NIDs have been strengthened. To reduce neonatal deaths due to tetanus, supplementary activities
have been carried out. As a result, 86 percent of new-borns are protected at birth against neonatal tetanus. The
Government has also introduced from 2003 Hepatitis B vaccination into routine EPI, which has been exp<strong>and</strong>ed
to all districts from 2005. The following table shows the rate of vaccinations in the country.
Table 6.3: Vaccinations by Background Characteristics in Bangladesh, 2004 (in percent)
Background Characteristics BCG DPT 1 DPT 2 DPT 3 Polio Polio 1 Polio 2 Polio 3 Measles All Vacc. No Vacc.
Sex Male 93.4 93.3 88.0 81.2 1.5 97.6 89.1 82.6 75.6 73.4 2.4
Female 93.4 92.9 86.4 80.8 2.3 95.4 87.6 82.0 75.7 72.8 4.1
Residence Urban 94.2 93.4 90.0 85.7 3.6 96.6 90.8 85.8 82.8 80.9 2.8
Rural 93.2 93.0 86.5 79.8 1.5 96.4 87.7 81.4 73.9 71.1 3.5
Mother's No 89.0 88.6 79.0 69.2 0.9 94.4 80.1 70.2 62.3 60.3 5.0
Education Education
Primary 94.0 93.4 87.3 81.2 0.6 98.3 88.6 83.2 76.3 72.5 1.7
incomplete
Primary 95.4 95.4 90.6 86.5 2.7 95.6 92.3 87.2 81.1 80.3 4.4
complete
Secondary 96.3 96.1 93.3 89.8 2.6 97.2 94.5 90.8 85.4 82.2 2.8
incomplete
Secondary 98.8 98.8 98.6 96.8 6.6 98.8 98.8 98.6 94.2 92.2 1.2
complete or
higher
Total 93.4 93.1 87.2 81.0 1.9 96.5 88.4 82.3 75.7 73.1 3.3
Source: "Bangladesh Demographic <strong>and</strong> Health Survey 2004"
Despite these achievements, it is estimated that approximately 1.5 million children remain unprotected with drop
out rates between 20 <strong>and</strong> 30 percent. The difference of vaccination likelihood between urban <strong>and</strong> rural born
children is almost 10%, which may be due to higher accessibility <strong>and</strong> exposure to healthcare facilities in urban
areas. The most striking difference is that when comparing mothers with no education to mothers with
secondary or higher education. Even an incomplete primary education can lead to a 12 percent increase of
complete vaccination of the offspring, peaking at a 32 percent increase when the mother has secondary or
higher education.
To strengthen routine immunisation, district <strong>and</strong> Upazila micro-plans in line with Reaching Every District (RED)
approaches <strong>and</strong> tools were jointly developed with WHO <strong>and</strong> UNICEF. In addition to extensive training,
improvement of cold chain <strong>and</strong> logistics management has also been brought in.
60