The 2011 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) is the sixth DHS undertaken in Bangladesh, following those implemented in 1993-94, 1996-97, 1999-2000, 2004, and 2007. The main objectives of the 2011 BDHS are to: • Provide information to meet the monitoring and evaluation needs of health and family planning programs, and • Provide program managers and policy makers involved in these programs with the information they need to plan and implement future interventions. The specific objectives of the 2011 BDHS were as follows: • To provide up-to-date data on demographic rates, particularly fertility and infant mortality rates, at the national and subnational level; • To analyze the direct and indirect factors that determine the level of and trends in fertility and mortality; • To measure the level of contraceptive use of currently married women; • To provide data on knowledge and attitudes of women and men about sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS; • To assess the nutritional status of children (under age 5), women, and men by means of anthropometric measurements (weight and height), and to assess infant and child feeding practices; • To provide data on maternal and child health, including antenatal care, assistance at delivery, breastfeeding, immunizations, and prevalence and treatment of diarrhea and other diseases among children under age 5; • To measure biomarkers, such as hemoglobin level for women and children, and blood pressure, and blood glucose for women and men 35 years and older; • To measure key education indicators, including school attendance ratios and primary school grade repetition and dropout rates; • To provide information on the causes of death among children under age 5; • To provide community-level data on accessibility and availability of health and family planning services; • To measure food security. The 2011 BDHS was conducted under the authority of the National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT) of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The survey was implemented by Mitra and Associates, a Bangladeshi research firm located in Dhaka. ICF International of Calverton, Maryland, USA, provided technical assistance to the project as part of its international Demographic and Health Surveys program (MEASURE DHS). Financial support was provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
