United Nations under-secretary general Babatunde Osotimehin, also UNFPA executive director, on Wednesday called on all to use domestic resources and skills available in family planning and the maternal health sector.
'Domestic resources are a sustainability factor,' he told a consultative meeting organised by the UNFPA at the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel to discuss aims to generate more interaction among stakeholders.
Chaired by the UNFPA country representative Arthur Erken, the meeting was attended by government officials concerned, representatives of development partners and NGOs, professionals, academicians and youth leaders.
The chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on health and family welfare ministry, Meher Afroze Chumki, and parliament member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury also spoke on the occasion.
Presenting the keynote paper on 'maternal health in Bangladesh: achievements and challenges,' health and family welfare secretary Humayun Kabir emphasised an increased number of births being attended by skilled health workers and reduction in adolescent pregnancies for intensified momentum towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
Taking part in the panel discussion, the Bangladesh Population Council country director, Ubaidur Rob, said that there was lack of government infrastructure in the health and family welfare sector to address the growing number of urban population which is likely to reach 100 million in 10 years from the present 25 million.
He also said that the government programmes of training 4000 graduate nurses every year was
far less than the nearly 7,000 students taken in graduation programmes by different medical colleges.
The national youth Forum's former member and now physician, Sanjoy K Chowdhury, said that public hospitals had failed to cater to youth-friendly services needed to address issues such as early pregnancy and adolescent healthcare.
Dhaka University's population science teacher AKM Nurunnabi, American University's Ahmed Niaz and family planning department director general MM Niazuddin, among others, spoke.
Source : New Age
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