About four in 10 infants aged up to five months are exclusively breastfed, eight out of 10 households consume iodized salt, eight in 10 children attend primary schools and nine in 10 children aged 12-23 months are immunized against measles, according to the findings of the Bangladesh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2006, released in the capital, Dhaka on Wednesday.

MICS is an international household survey designed by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to assist countries plug data gaps for monitoring human development in general and the situation of children and women in particular.

However only 2 in 10 women are assisted by skilled health personnel at delivery, only about one in 10 women aged 15-49 years has comprehensive knowledge on HIV/AIDS and just four in 10 households have access to improved sanitation, the survey findings say.

The report recommends improvement in these areas for Bangladesh to meet some of the U.N.'s key Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

Finance Adviser of Bangladesh Dr Mirza Azizul Islam said achieving the MDGs is primarily a national responsibility -- with the government, non-government organizations, civil society organizations, media and all sections of the society involved.

"While we need our own efforts, it's also important to ensure the commitment by international community. I hope, international community will fulfill their commitment," the adviser told a launching ceremony of the survey report in Dhaka on the day.

Planning Secretary Jafar Ahmed Chowdhury, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) Director General AYM Ekramul Hoque and UNICEF Country Representative Louis Georges Arsenault also spoke on the occasion. The UNICEF and the BBS jointly organized the function to reveal the findings of the report.

Addressing the function, the UNICEF Country Representative Louis Georges Arsenault said MICS is the only household survey in Bangladesh that provides internationally acceptable disaggregated data to assess the human development progress. "I hope, the data will support evidence-based policy making," he said.

The MICS-2006 is the ninth round of the survey in Bangladesh. The first round was conducted in 1993.

The improvements include higher consumption of iodized salt with figures showing an increase from 70 per cent in the last MICS data in 2003 to 84 per cent in MICS 2006.

Similarly, the proportion of 12-23 month-olds immunized against measles increased from 83 per cent to 87 per cent during the period, UNICEF said in a press statement.