Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Dr Natalia Kanem has appreciated Bangladesh’s success in reducing child and maternal mortality rates and preventing child marriages.
The praise from Kanem, who is also the UN Under-Secretary General, came during her courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at InterContinental hotel in Dhaka, PM's Speechwriter Md Nazrul Islam told reporters after the meeting.
Issues including child and mother mortality rates, reproductive health, child marriage and girls education came up for discussion during the meeting, said Nazrul.
The UNFPA chief said Bangladesh has made an excellent performance in reducing the child and maternal mortality rates.
She said the reproductive health of women is being affected due to adverse impacts of climate changes.
About climate change, the prime minister said her government took various steps to offset the impacts of climate change and thus the vulnerability of the poor and marginalised community has declined.
In case of natural disasters, the rate of casualties has sharply reduced in Bangladesh due to measures taken by her government, she said.
Turning to education for women Hasina said girls outshine boys both in numbers and academic performance in the school examinations in Bangladesh.
"Girl students have surpassed the boys both in numbers and pass percentage in the recent school examinations (SSC examinations). And it has been possible because of our girl-friendly policy," she said, adding that many parents were not willing to send their girls to schools in the past.
She said when her party Awami League came to power in 1996 the government framed policy to promote girls’ education drawing from experiences she gathered after she returned home in 1981 ending six years of forced exile, said the PM.
She focused on different steps including introduction of a stipend programme for students and school feeding scheme.
A larger number of girls are coming to schools now as employment scope for women has widened, she noted.
Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud, State Minister for Health Rokeya Sultana, Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, PMO Secretary Mohammad Salahuddin and Medical Education and Family Welfare Division Secretary Azizur Rahman were present.
