'Prepare urban health strategy'
Increased community awareness, continuum care for pregnant women and proper referral system by community health workers can play an important role in reducing maternal and neonatal mortality in urban slums, said speakers yesterday.
They were speaking at a programme titled 'Urban maternal, neonatal and child health initiative: Approaches, challenges and achievements' organised by Brac at its auditorium in the city, disseminating on its Manoshi project under six city corporations.
Representatives of different donor and non-government organisations stressed the need for preparing urban health strategy soon in cooperation with health and LGRD ministry.
Speakers said 57,43,398 people were brought under the project by setting up 418 'birthing huts' in different slum areas, as they are the most at risk due to absence of an Urban Health Strategy.
While presenting the keynote paper, Kaosar Afsana, associate director of Brac Health Programme, said "Maternal mortality ratio was 141 per 100,000 live births at Dhaka slums in 2010, whereas the MDG target is 143 by 2015. Urban neonatal mortality rate is 13 per 1,000 live births while nationwide it is 37."
Dr Timothy G Evans, dean of James P Grant School of Public Health, Brac University, moderated the session.
Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services Prof Khandakar Shefayetullah; Mohammad Humayun Kabir, secretary of the health ministry; National Prof M R Khan; Prof MQK Talukder; Prof Latifa Shamsuddin and Prof Nazmun Nahar and Prof Kishwar Azad also spoke.
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