attended lower secondary education (MICS 2019). COVID-19 has caused a serious education crisis, with Bangladesh experiencing one of the longest school closures worldwide – lasting 543 days until 12 September 2021. Early learning facilities remain closed. World Bank paper ‘A Simulation of COVID-19 School Closure Impact on Student Learning in Bangladesh’ (2021) predicts substantial learning loss, estimating that 76 per cent of children will not achieve minimum reading proficiency by Grade 5 because of the school closure (up from 58 per cent). Under-five birth registration rose to 56 per cent pre-pandemic (MICS 2019). Birth registration resumed in Cox’s Bazar in 2020. Preventable harmful practices against children remained common pre-pandemic: about 9 out of 10 children aged 1–14 years had received violent discipline from a caregiver; child labour affected 6.8 per cent of those aged 5–17 years; and child marriage was widespread, with 51.4 per cent of women aged 20–24 years first married before age 18 (MICS 2019). Violence against women and children, including gender-based violence (GBV), has increased by an estimated 31 per cent during the pandemic (Manusher Jonno Foundation, May 2020). Every day, 30 children die from drowning – Bangladesh’s second leading cause of under-five mortality. Drowning is preventable, and most cases occur within a child’s home community. Access to a safe environment has improved: 64 per cent of households (MICS 2019) can access improved sanitation facilities (56 per cent in 2012), and 98.5 per cent of households (MICS 2019) can access improved drinking water sources (97 per cent in 2012). Water quality problems include presence of arsenic: just 42.6 per cent of the population can access safe water. Quarter of the population lives in households lacking water and soap, and handwashing was very infrequent prepandemic (National Hygiene Survey 2018; MICS 2019). Rural to urban migration, and multiple climate hazards overstretch water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services while the sector simultaneously moves from Millennium Development Goal service quality standards to the significantly more ambitious Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) standards. In 2021, COVID-19 restrictions plus fire hazards, acute watery diarrhoea (AWD) outbreaks and monsoon rains affected WASH facility construction in healthcare facilities, schools and communities and hampered community engagement. Fifty thousand Rohingya refugees arrived in 2021. Bangladesh hosted over 907,000 Rohingya refugees (52 per cent children) as at October 2021. The pandemic exacerbated the vulnerabilities of Rohingya refugees, who live in high-density camps with increased COVID-19 transmission risk. The Refugee Influx Emergency Vulnerability Assessment classified 96 per cent of Rohingya refugees as moderately/severely vulnerable by 2020, with over 60 per cent of Rohingya households multidimensionally poor (47 per cent in 2019) (World Food Programme, April 2021). For the first half of 2021, service provision in camps was limited to mainly critical services; other services resumed later in the year. The cumulative COVID-19 case fatality rate among Rohingya refugees remained at about 1 per cent. In August, COVID-19 vaccination commenced for Rohingya refugees from age 55. Major contributions and drivers of results Every child survives – reproductive and maternal health Page 2 of 10 Page 2 of 10