Health
We work to improve newborn, maternal, child and adolescent health through collaboration with communities, governments and partners in Bangladesh.
- বাংলা
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The challenge
Bangladesh has witnessed progress in child and maternal health with infant mortality nearly halved between 1990 and 2019. This is inspiring progress and means that millions of young lives have been saved. Many more children are celebrating their fifth birthday, and many more mothers are surviving pregnancy and delivery-related complications to celebrate it with them.
Despite progress, newborn mortality, i.e. deaths of children within the four weeks of life, is still high: 22 newborn deaths per 1,000 live births. This accounts for 67% of all under-five child deaths. That makes newborn survival the top child health priority (MICS 2025).
Additionally, only 47.3% of women receive their first antenatal care (ANC) within the first four months of pregnancy, and just 43% complete four ANC visits. Alarmingly, only 5.5% of mothers receive the eight visits recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), highlighting the need to strengthen primary health care services (MICS 2025).
Evidence has shown that the chances of a child surviving increases when the mother delivers in a health facility, with the help of a skilled birth attendant. Yet, nearly 29% of women still deliver outside health facilities. It is mostly these women, often the most vulnerable and from remote areas, who consequently do not receive adequate delivery and postnatal care.
Furthermore, children are still dying from causes that can be prevented with vaccination, quality healthcare and strong health systems – like communicable and non-communicable diseases, mental health conditions, injuries, malnutrition and environmental hazards.
Within communities, stark inequities persist when it comes to accessing live-saving care. Women and children living in poverty or with a disability are especially likely to be cut off from the services they need to survive and thrive. And for those suffering through displacement, natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies, the risk of disease and malnutrition soars.
The leading causes of under-five deaths in Bangladesh are:
- Prematurity and associated complications at birth
- pneumonia
- drowning
- respiratory diseases and
- Malnutrition
The solution
UNICEF’s goal is to ensure that every child can survive and thrive.
UNICEF is working with the Government of Bangladesh to improve access to quality health services for mothers, newborns and children, especially the most vulnerable.
To achieve this, UNICEF and partners are focusing on three priority areas:
Universal health coverage: The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of health systems that are resilient and responsive to emergencies. UNICEF is supporting the Government of Bangladesh to reach universal health coverage by strengthening health systems at national and community levels. This includes helping with evidence-based health policy making, programme planning and budgeting.
Equitable health services: UNICEF is strengthening the capacity of district and sub-district health systems to provide equitable access to high-quality maternal, newborn, child, adolescent health and immunization services, with a focus on the most vulnerable children.
Strengthening primary health care: UNICEF is working to ensure children and women are well-informed about issues affecting their health and wellbeing. This is to empower them to adopt healthy life practices and take health services closer to the people both in urban and rural areas.