Visiting UN Assistant Secretary General Ms GerdaVerburg has commended the progress of nutrition-related programmes in Bangladesh, reports BSS. Gerda, also the coordinator of scaling up nutrition (SUN) global movement, made this commendation while calling on Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammad Nasim at a local hotel on Monday night, said a release yesterday. SUN, now a global movement to arrest malnutrition and improve nutritional status worldwide, was adopted in Bangladesh in April 2010 and has so far made tangible progress in bringing stakeholders together to scale up nutrition activities locally. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina earlier made her commitment in a global forum to SUN, a movement which was launched after the developing world suffered from hunger and higher food prices during 2008-2009. Gerda appreciated Dhaka for its steps to improve the nutrition situation that has put Bangladesh on the frontline in South East Asia region towards a path of success in addressing malnutrition and improve nutritional status nationally.
She also committed to extend support from United Nations to SUN local initiatives. Nasim said Bangladesh has made tremendous improvement in Health sector that has already made it a role model for many other developing countries. Nutrition, he said, would be another area where Bangladesh would prove its leadership under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s active supervision. Bangladesh National Nutrition Council has been revitalized while the National Plan of Action for Nutrition is under process of finalization, the minister said adding that a multi-sectoral coordination among SUN global platform, UN agencies, donor partners, civil societies was a must to implement it effectively.
Senior Secretary of Ministry of Industries Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, Secretary of Medical Education and Family Welfare Division of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Md. Sirazul Islam, SUN Bangladesh Focal Point Roxana Quader, Director General of Directorate General of Health Services Professor Dr. Abul Kalam Azad, Vice Chair of BRAC Mushtaque Raza Chowdhury and Senior Director of Nutrition and Clinical Services Division of ICDDR,B Dr Tahmeed Ahmed also spoke on the occasion.
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Editor : M. Shamsur Rahman
Published by the Editor on behalf of Independent Publications Limited at Media Printers, 446/H, Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1215.
Editorial, News & Commercial Offices : Beximco Media Complex, 149-150 Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1208, Bangladesh. GPO Box No. 934, Dhaka-1000.
Editor : M. Shamsur Rahman
Published by the Editor on behalf of Independent Publications Limited at Media Printers, 446/H, Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1215.
Editorial, News & Commercial Offices : Beximco Media Complex, 149-150 Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1208, Bangladesh. GPO Box No. 934, Dhaka-1000.