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and in keeping the rate of child labour lower. Moreover, like Barisal, Khulna as a coastal division
fails to effectively manage the safe drinking water services for all.
Mymensingh, full of haors and hills, is a fairly new administrative division established only in this
decade. Poverty-prone areas including the Haor basins and the hilly areas in Mymensingh make the
delivery of basic services difficult in remote areas, especially to the ethnic minorities in the region.
Ethnic minorities like Garo, Koach, Hazong, Santal, and Dalu often live in the most remote areas
near the borders with India and are under-served due to the remoteness. Some districts like Jamalpur
and Netrokona are the two-flood prone district where floods destroy public infrastructures like roads
and schools and household infrastructures like houses, tube wells, and sanitary latrines. Mymensingh
extremely lag behind in terms of child delivery by skilled birth attendants, coverage of post-natal
care services, and minimum acceptable dietary practices of children. Moreover, the number of cases
of violence and abuse against girl children is high in Mymensingh.
Rangpur, the northernmost region of Bangladesh, is recognized for hosting well-known poverty
pockets of the country. In addition to poverty and low level of education among the people, natural
disasters like flood, drought, and riverbank erosion add to the woes of the marginalized people of the
division. According to data from MICS, Rangpur performs worst in terms of highest adolescent birth
rate, lower iodized salt intake, higher rate of child labour, slowest growth in birth registration rate,
higher percentage of early marriage among girls aged 15 to 19 years, and highest rate of open
defecation. On the other hand, Rangpur performs best in terms of highest usage of modern
contraception, most efficient management of and highest rate of people having access to safe
drinking water, lower presence of E.coli in drinking water. Moreover, Rajshahi, a northern division
of the country, performs almost like Rangpur in many indicators. Evidently, Rajshahi also suffers
from very lower rate of iodized salt intake among children, higher rate of child labour, higher rate of
child marriage, and lower level of antenatal as well as postnatal care coverage. Both Rajshahi and
Rangpur divisions require sector-specific planning and allocation of resources for improvement of
educational as well as health and nutritional conditions of children living in those regions.
Sylhet, a north-western division of the country, performs worst in terms of child mortality, antenatal
care coverage, child delivery by skilled birth attendants, number of underweight children, acceptable
dietary conditions for children. On the other hand, Sylhet performs best in terms of lowest rate of
early marriage among girl children, lowest adolescent birth rate for women aged between 15 to 19
years, highest iodized salt intake, highest birth registration rate for children, and the lowest number
of overweight children among all the administrative divisions. However, the higher rate of arsenic
contamination in the drinking water and lower rate of use of improved sanitation has been observed
in Sylhet. Moreover, workers living in tea garden areas and people living in haor areas lag behind
most in terms of access to road communication, education, and health services. Different initiatives,
in sectors like education and health, targeting the pockets like haors and tea garden areas is an
immediate necessity for Sylhet. Moreover, ensuring quality services for mothers and children during
delivery as well as in antenatal and postnatal period is also needed in Sylhet division.
Addressing the rural-urban divide
The rural urban divide in terms of access to as well as quality of services and the quality of life is
apparent from both quantitative and qualitative data. In health aspects, data shows that the conditions
of fertility rate, child mortality rate, ante-natal care, support for pregnant women during delivery,
and knowledge about the HIV transmission and use of contraception in urban areas are slightly
better than those of rural areas. However, the rate of post-natal health check-ups are same in both the
urban and rural areas while the rate of predominant breastfeeding under six months and the age-
appropriate breastfeeding for children is comparatively better in the rural areas. On the other hand, in