The Unicef's worldwide report titled "Progress for Children: A report Card on Nutrition" also reveals that about 80 lakh children are underweight in the country.

Dr Harriet Torless, chief of Unicef's Nutrition programme presented the report at James P Grant conference room at Unicef country office at Minto Road in the city.

According to the report, South Asian children are mostly undernourished and they contribute 46 per cent to the global list. However, Bangladesh scored top among the South Asian countries with 48 per cent malnutrition affected children.

The report says some 56 lakh children die of malnutrition every year in the developing countries and 26 per cent children in these countries are underweight.

Showing that between 1990 and 2004, prevalence of underweight children in Bangladesh declined from 66 per cent to 48 per cent, the report said this achievement is a progress towards materialising the Millennium Development Goal (MDG).

"If the progress persists the rate of undernourished children would be 33 per cent in 2015. But to speed up the programme, Bangladesh has to initiate up-to-date strategies," the Unicef programme chief observed.

The report says that about 36 per cent Bangladeshi children are born underweight, which is almost highest in the world. Undernourished and vulnerable pregnant women give birth to low-birth-weight children.

Over a half of the children under five and over one third of women are anaemic, the report said, adding that night blindness is another problem for Bangladesh children. If the rate, which is at present 7 per cent, decreases to only one per cent, it might be categorised as general illness.

The report, however, appreciated Bangladesh's performance in eradicating the diseases emerged from lack of iodised foods in the diet.

The rate of iodine deficiency disorder among the children in Bangladesh has dropped off to 34 per cent, which was 71 per cent in the last decade. The success has come due to the fact that 70 per cent of all edible salt in the country is now iodised, which has helped to reduce the toll of iodine deficiency disorders.

The rate of breast-feeding in the country has improved, which at present stands at 42 per cent though more efforts have to be taken to accelerate the rate, the report said.

Addressing the occasion Louis-Georges Arsenault, the resident representative of Unicef in Bangladesh, said South Asia and Africa are malnutrition prone regions, as the countries within these territories cannot avail themselves of quality food, proper care, sanitation and pure drinking water.

In Bangladesh, children of slum areas mostly suffer from these diseases caused by malnutrition, he said.

Improving nutrition not only helps children to grow, but it has a great impact on their survival, achievement at school, reducing maternal mortality and combating major diseases, Louis said, adding that improved nutritional status can have far-reaching implications on human development, economic growth and poverty reduction.