Dhaka: At least 47,000 additional births took place in Bangladesh last year due to unexpected pregnancies due to acute shortage of contraceptives.

A study presented by Family Planning Association of

Bangladesh (FPAB) and Human Development Research Centre (HDRC)

said that the total loss caused to sufferers due to a shortage

of oral pills, injections and condoms during the period is

equivalent to 4,306 million hours in terms of time and 61,353

million Taka in terms of monetary value.

The study also found that 159,800 unexpected

pregnancies were caused by the shortage, stock out or

irregular supply of these three methods of contraceptions. Of

them, 90,240 pregnancies were lost to menstrual regulations

(MR), 22,560 by abortion and 47,000 children were born.

Prof Abul Barakat, an expert said that the current

population growth of the country is 1.43 per cent per year and

the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) is 55.8 per cent.

"If we want to achieve the total fertility rate of 2.2

by the year 2010, CPR should be increased to 72 per cent," he

was quoted as saying by the Daily Star.

It further revealed that the total number of annual

users suffering from stock out, shortage and irregular supply

of family planning commodities is 160,585 persons in the

country.

Bureau Report