Info deficit holds back MDG success: Ruhal
Health Minister Dr AFM Ruhal Haque yesterday identified information deficit as the only barrier to achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in the health sector.
"We have gained sufficient capacity in every other sector to achieve the MDGs in the health sector. But the only difficulty that I have is lack of information", he said.
The MDGs, set to be achieved by 2015, include targets to reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, and combat AIDS and other fatal diseases.
The minister made the comment at a seminar on "Harmonisation in dissemination of demographic and health survey" organised by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistic (BBS) at its conference room in the capital.
The seminar was aimed at deriving a solution to remove the data anomalies of the BBS and the National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT) on public health.
Terming BBS the government's information bank, Ruhal Haque laid stress on its enrichment for further progress of the country and for making government's services available.
He suggested forming a committee with BBS and NIPORT officials along with experts to sketch an operational guideline for survey methodology in the health and population sector.
"The responsible persons should sit and work out a solution to remove data anomalies. We need authentic data to provide adequate healthcare", he said.
Addressing the function, Health Secretary Humayun Kabir said if data of different government agencies varied on the same issue, it created embarrassing situation for the government.
"Frequent exchange of information between agencies can remove the problem", he said.
The BBS statistics show 216 in every one lakh women die annually in pregnancy related complexities, while the NIPORT death tolls stand at 194, the speakers said.
According to the BBS, 47 under-five children in every 1,000 die every year, but the NIPORT puts the toll at 53, they added.
Riti Ibrahim, secretary of Statistics and Informatics Division of Ministry of Planning, chaired the function, while BBS Director General Shahjahan Ali Mollah moderated it. Representatives of the NIPORT, Unicef, UNFPA and a number of academicians also spoke on the occasion.
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