A shortage that bodes ill for the country

It is highly alarming that shortage of supplies of birth-control materials at government family planning centres across the country is threatening to reverse years of progress made in curbing population growth and reducing maternal and child mortality rates. According to a report published in this paper recently, due to a lack of proper pre-assessment and procurement drive by the Directorate General of Family Planning, the stock of contraceptive items has been declining at the field-level family planning offices since December 2023. The government has yet to replenish the stock. Consequently, with fewer birth control options available, unintended conceptions are likely to rise, contributing to population growth, increased abortions, health complications for both mothers and newborns and extra medical expenditure. There is a direct correlation between contraceptive use and maternal mortality rates. With more children born with shorter time gap, mothers run the risk of falling ill and may not take proper care of all their babies, potentially inviting ill consequences. The repercussions of this supply-side crunch of contraceptives are grave.

It is worth mentioning that around 37 per cent of couples in Bangladesh rely on the government's free distribution of contraceptives, whereas three per cent source those from NGOs and 60 per cent from the private sector. The shortage of birth control items in government's family planning offices is driving low-income people to source it from the private sector at prices they can ill afford or reduce its usage, which might lead to a baby boom. In recent years, especially following the Covid-19 outbreak, Bangladesh has seen an increase in its birth rate. The Bangladesh Sample Vital Statistics 2022, conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), shows the gross birth rate per 1,000 increased to 19.3 in 2022, from 18.8 in 2021. In addition, the total fertility rate (per 1,000 women aged between 15 and 49) increased to 2.15 from 2.05 during the same period.

For a resource-constrained Bangladesh, frequently battered by natural calamities, overpopulation is a bane. Population growth does not only mean feeding extra mouths but also exerting additional pressure on various resources like arable land. The graveness of the situation may easily be realised if the decrease in cultivable land of the country now occurring at the rate of one per cent per annum due to indiscriminate urbanisation and industrialisation is taken into account. Worse still, the climate change triggered by global warming has cast a shadow over agriculture production. Hence, if the volume of agricultural land continues to shrink due to uncontrolled growth of population, unplanned industrialisation and urbanisation, no doubt a bleak future is awaiting Bangladesh.

Therefore, proper steps should be taken as early as possible to keep the population growth rate under control. It is imperative that the government takes immediate steps to ensure a timely and consistent supply of contraceptives to all family-planning centres across the country. This includes streamlining procurement processes, addressing logistical challenges, and enhancing coordination among the authorities concerned. Besides, efforts must be made to raise awareness about the importance of family planning and contraceptive use, particularly in rural areas where access to information and services may be limited. Community outreach programmes and educational campaigns can play a crucial role in empowering individuals to make informed decisions on their reproductive health.