Socio-Economic Situation, Sanitation and Vaccination of Ethnic Children

<p><strong>Abstract</strong></p>\n<p>Undoubtedly economically and socially Bangladesh has been developing in its own fashion over the years. Income-generating capacity has increased along with the literacy rate. Infant and maternal mortality have declined remarkably. However, challenges still remain to keep children healthy, particularly in hilly and riverine forest-dense areas. To explore socioeconomic status, sanitation and immunization coverage of ethnic children residing in Bandarban hill district was the objective of the research. A cross-sectional research design was implemented. This was a years duration study. Bandarban is a hilly and forest-dense area. Samples were collected through door-to-door surveys. The average age of the participants was 4.21±0.80 years. Most of the parents completed primary education. Day labor and housewives were prominent in number. The average monthly family income of the study subjects was 13916.02±10689.76 BDT. Distribution of sanitary (water sealed) latrines, partial sanitary (not water sealed) latrines, non-sanitary (kancha) and open latrines was 66.30%, 14.60%, 8.30%, and 10.90% respectively. Immunization coverage was 81.30%.</p>\n<p><strong>Kew words:</strong> Socio-economic Situation, Sanitation, Vaccination, Ethnic Communities.</p>