STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Experts and officials yesterday called for reinvigorating the family planning programme to improve reproductive health services, reduce unintended pregnancies, and address the country’s declining contraceptive coverage.

They said the programme, once hailed as a successful national intervention to reduce fertility and slow population growth, has remained stagnant for more than a decade, while services have recently been severely disrupted.

Two senior health officials, however, said the government is planning to restructure primary healthcare, with family planning forming a major part of the initiative.

They made the remarks at a policy dialogue titled “Declining Primary Healthcare Programme in Bangladesh: The Story of National Family Planning Programme”, organised by Bangladesh Health Watch at the CIRDAP auditorium yesterday.

Yasmin H Ahmed, adviser to Bangladesh Health Watch, said the family planning programme helped reduce the total fertility rate (TFR) from 6.3 in 1975 to 2.3 in 2011. However, the latest data from 2025 showed the TFR had risen to 2.4.

She said the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) increased from 7.7 percent in 1975 to 64 percent in 2022, but later dropped to 58.2 percent in 2025.

The situation turned worse as the procurement of contraceptive methods has remained stalled for over two years, placing the entire system under immense strain, she said, urging the authority to revitalise the programme.

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