Evaluating Effects of Integrating ECD Activities into Bangladesh Government's Urban Lactating Mothers Allowance Program for the Poor on Children's Cognition and Behavior

Bangladesh is one of the top ten countries with high adolescent pregnancy in the world. The median age of first birth is 18.2 to 19.4 yrs in urban Bangladesh. The poor urban people, especially young mothers have little access to government health facilities. Provision of health services and health education to this population is a great challenge because of supply and demand barriers in the urban health system, which is considered patchy and fragmented. Government of Bangladesh (GOB) provides lactating allowance for 2 yrs for poor urban mothers to help improve maternal and child health in the country. We plan to integrate Early Child Development (ECD) activities into this program and measure effects on child cognition and behavior. Previous studies have documented that ECD independently improves child development. If the combined package proves more cost effective, we will pursue for large scale intervention through GOB and other stakeholders.