“Not more than two children, one is even better”: Bangladesh to Launch Year-Long Family Planning Campaign on December 1
The government will launch a year-long nationwide family planning campaign on December 1 to revive the country’s family planning programme and encourage couples to adopt contraceptive methods, Health Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain announced.
Speaking at a press conference at the Secretariat, the minister said Prime Minister Tarique Rahman would inaugurate the campaign, which will continue until November 30, 2027.
The initiative comes as Bangladesh faces renewed challenges in family planning, including declining contraceptive use, rising fertility rates and disruptions in the supply of free contraceptives. Shortages of contraceptive materials and inadequate field-level counselling have also hampered efforts to help couples make informed decisions about family size and birth spacing.
According to the latest Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) data, the contraceptive prevalence rate among women aged 15–49 fell from 62.7% in 2019 to 58.2% in 2025. Meanwhile, the total fertility rate rose from 2.3 children per woman in 2012 to 2.4 in 2025, marking the first increase in more than a decade.
The percentage of women with an unmet need for family planning also increased from 13.7% in 2019 to 16.2% in 2025, highlighting the need to strengthen access to contraceptive services.
The programme lost momentum following the gradual decline in free contraceptive supplies after the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation worsened after the Fourth Health, Population and Nutrition Sector Programme, which funded most contraceptive procurement, ended in June 2024. Delays in project approval and fund releases further contributed to shortages.
Field-level staff shortages at the Directorate General of Family Planning (DGFP) have compounded these challenges, limiting contraceptive distribution and counselling services. The government expects contraceptive supplies to improve by November under a project launched in November last year.
As Bangladesh prepares for the year-long initiative, sustained investment in family planning services will be crucial to ensuring that individuals and couples can make informed decisions about contraception, birth spacing and their reproductive futures.
