The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Dhaka

Some 66,000 garment workers in Dhaka, Narayanganj and Gazipur districts will be imparted training on prevention of HIV/AIDS to reduce the risk of outbreak of the disease in their workplaces.

Marie Stopes Clinic, an International Reproductive Healthcare provider, is implementing the programme under a project styled 'Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria' (GFATM) in cooperation with the Population Council, Asiatic Marketing Ltd and facilitated by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

Avik Sanwar Rahman, Manager Advocacy, of Marie Stopes told BSS that the project began in January this year and will be ended in April 2009.

The main objective of the project is to equip the factory workers with knowledge about HIV/AIDS and raise their skill to prevent the dreadful disease, Rahman said.

Talking to BSS, BGMEA President Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury (Parvez) said the country's 75 percent foreign exchange earnings come from the RMG sector, where 2.4 million workers have been working.

In this respect, BGMEA president said, the large section of garment workers needs to be provided with better health services along with regular HIV/AIDS check up.

He said creating awareness about HIV/AIDS is the better medicine of the disease, which will largely help the garment workers to protect themselves from the disease.

According to a survey carried out by Marie Stopes, the average age of garment workers in Dhaka division is 21 years. Among the workers, 50 percent is unmarried and 90 percent migrated from rural areas. About half of the total workers have no idea about HIV/AIDS, the report said.

The first HIV case in Bangladesh was detected in 1989. On December 1, 2007 the ministry of health and family welfare confirmed 1207 cases of HIV of which 123 had died.