Third and Fourth Periodic Report on CRC - Unicef

<strong>Third</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Fourth</strong> <strong>Periodic</strong> <strong>Report</strong>
Table 6.5: Sanitation Coverage (Household in %)
Sl # Area Baseline in 2003 In 2005
01 Rural 29 66
02 Pourashava/Municipality 53 80
03 City corporation 70 79
National 33 67
Source: Sanitation Secretariat, 2005
The main reasons behind the success may be attributed to a set of initiatives such as massive camping,
decentralization of government institutions, involvement of local bodies along with increase of financial
allocations, especially for hardcore poor, incentives <strong>and</strong> award for better performances, <strong>and</strong> increasing publicprivate-NGO
partnership. The South Asia Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN), held in Dhaka in October
2003, resulted in Dhaka Declaration of the subsequent commitment of the State Party to achieve 100 percent
sanitation coverage by 2010 (against universal coverage outlined in MDG in 2015). Bangladesh also
participated in second SACOSAN held in Islamabad, Pakistan during 20-21 September 2006.
In 2004, over 5 million people were mobilized for promoting sanitation <strong>and</strong> hygiene through variety of
communication activities including awareness building, training, community participation such as Water <strong>and</strong>
Sanitation (WATSAN) committees in villages, Unions <strong>and</strong> Upazilas. Some 40,000 students’ brigade have been
trained in sanitation <strong>and</strong> hygiene to carry promotion activities in their own <strong>and</strong> their neighbours’ homes. Based
on community action plans, 4,000 community water facilities <strong>and</strong> 55,000 water sealed <strong>and</strong> low-cost latrines have
been constructed <strong>and</strong> some 150 private latrine production centres established.
MICS 2006 shows that some 23 percent of child faeces are disposed of safely, with variation among the
Divisions but very significant between rural (15 percent) <strong>and</strong> urban areas (44 percent). There is strong positive
correlation between safe disposal <strong>and</strong> both the education of mothers <strong>and</strong> socioeconomic status of households.
At present the Government, besides BAMWSP, is implementing several projects/programmes for improving
WATSAN situation in the country, in association with a host of development partners <strong>and</strong> NGOS/CBO <strong>and</strong> some
new programmes/projects are in the pipeline.
6.9 School health
Various channels are used to provide health-related information to children <strong>and</strong> families. The existing school
health clinics are being used as the forum for school health information services. The specific activities are:
Sensitisation <strong>and</strong> motivation of primary <strong>and</strong> secondary students for critical child health <strong>and</strong> reproductive
health messages <strong>and</strong> home practices;
Organize school-based vision, hearing <strong>and</strong> dental examinations for primary school children;
Distribute de-worming drugs at primary schools <strong>and</strong> orient on worm infestation; <strong>and</strong>
Organize TT-5 campaigns <strong>and</strong> provide iron-folic acid tablets for senior school girls.
Capacity building of doctors, nurses <strong>and</strong> other health workers is a continued process. This strengthens capacity
in service provision, referral <strong>and</strong> networking to increase better case management, address the delays in safe
motherhood <strong>and</strong> inform family planning choices. A cadre of Skilled Birth Attendants (SBAs) are being developed
to strengthen safe delivery at home. The Government is going to elaborately incorporate issues related to
adolescents’ health in the school curriculum from year 2000.
66