Strategic Plan for Health, Population & Nutrition Sector Development Program 2011-2016

The Strategic Plan for Health, Population & Nutrition Sector Development Program (HPNSDP) is a national cross-sectoral plan of Bangladesh for the period of 2011-2016. Its main goal is to ensure quality and equitable health care for all citizens by improving access to and utilization of health, population and nutrition services, and to improve both access and utilization of such services, particularly for the poor.
In the area of food security and safety, the Plan provides for raising awareness of relevant stakeholders on food safety and hygienic practices including hand washing; developing a food safety policy along with the action plan for implementation; and establishing a central food testing laboratory and strengthen capacity of scientists and technicians. In addition, the document aims to ensure more coordination in the treatment of moderate and severe acute malnutrition at the health facility as well as the community level; to promote exclusive breast feeding for 6 months and continued breastfeeding up to 2 years; to develop mechanisms for effective coordination with other relevant sectors, capable of synergistic impact on nutrition, for example, food security, food safety, food fortification, livelihoods programs etc; to mainstream gender into nutrition programming; and to promote food safety.
In the area of environment and climate change, the Plan targets strengthening activities to combat the health impact of climate change and updating guidelines for health protection from adverse effects and pre and post disaster situation; developing an advanced preparedness plan to face the consequences of climate change; standardizing emergency health supplies and their stockpiling as part of the readiness program on climate change; and creating an institute for environmental and occupational health safety.
Other priorities of the Plan include scaling up services for the achievement of the targets of Millennium Development Goals 1, 4, 5 and 6 by 2015; addressing population growth with vigorous, fully integrated family planning services, and cross-cutting, multi-sector interventions; mainstreaming nutrition in all service delivery points; expanding access to services for priority communicable and non-communicable diseases; revitalizing the Community Clinic based services as part of a functional Upazila Health System; strengthening overall health system and governance including establishing a sustainable Monitoring and Evaluation System along with Health Information System; and improving health equity for the poor and geographically marginalized population.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare manages the monitoring and evaluation activities to facilitate the Annual Program Review by the Independent Review Team. A coordination committee headed by the Additional Secretary of the Ministry will be framed to institutionalize the monitoring and evaluation functions in the Ministry.