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BKMEA renews contract for nutrition of female knitters

Staff Correspondent
22 Feb 2023 15:01:26 | Update: 22 Feb 2023 15:04:39
BKMEA renews contract for nutrition of female knitters
— Courtesy Photo

BKMEA has been running the Nutrition of Working Women (NoWW) Project in collaboration with National Nutrition Service (NNS) and Nutrition International (NI) since 2019 to eliminate anemia and raise health awareness among women workers in the knitwear sector in Bangladesh.

An MoU has been signed between BKMEA, NSS and NI to extend the project up to March 2027. It was signed by the BKMEA Vice President Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, NNS Country Director Abdul Mannan and NI President Joel Spicer.

The program was held on February 20, 2023, at Hotel Intercontinental in Dhaka. Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, MP, attended the programme as the chief guest.

Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce Tapan Kanti Ghosh, was the special guest. BKMEA Executive President Mohammad Hatem chaired the event.

“In our country, more than 46 per cent of women aged 15-49 suffer from anemia. In that context, the Nutrition of Working Women project is a timely step. The project has laid emphasis on issues like elimination of anemia and hygiene which was not seen before. BKMEA has created an unprecedented example through this project,” said Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury.

NoWW is regnant across 116 knitwear factories so far. The project enabled the disbursement of dietary supplements vis-à-vis 283 iron and folic acid tablets among 220,000 female knitters.

Highlighting the importance of the project, Executive President of BKMEA Mohammad Hatem said BKMEA will maintain the trajectory of success in the future. He hoped, the current production line in the knitwear industry will evolve into a sustainable one.

For nearly 30 years, Nutrition International has been working to combat malnutrition in Bangladesh. NI has become a trusted partner of Bangladesh through its operations, said NI CEO Joel Spicer.

Dr Bernd Spanier, deputy head of the Delegation EU was present in the program. Factory owners, managers, and workers of various factories were also present on the occasion.

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