The New Nation - Internet Edition

State of the world children 2008 launched: Disparities in education, income affecting child survival: UNICEF

UNICEF representative a.i. David Bassiouni,
Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
jointly unveiled the Bengali and the English version of the
publication. NN photo

Staff Reporter

The number of children who die before their fifth birthday in Bangladesh can be reduced significantly if integrated health strategies are implemented, said the UNICEF in a report.

The report titled 'State of the World's Children 2008:Child Survival' was launched by the UNICEF at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel yesterday.

Health Secretary AKM Zafar Ullah Khan and UNICEF Representative a.i. David Bassiouni jointly launched the Bangla and English versions of the publication at the function.

Director General of Health Services Prof Md Abul Faiz presented the keynote paper outlining the present child survival situation in Bangladesh.

The publication emphasises that community-level integration of essential services for mothers, newborns and young children and sustainable improvements in national health system can save the lives of most of the 26,000 children under five years who die each day globally. The challenge is to ensure children have access to a continuum of health care, backed by strong national health systems.

According to the report, the mortality rate of children who are below five years is 69 in Bangladesh, while the mortality rates of infant and neo-natal are 52 and 36 respectively.

There are 22 per cent of infants with low birth weight and 48 per cent of children below five years who are suffering from underweight where 43 per cent of children below five years are found stunted in the country.

The report reveals that 74 per cent of population use improved drinking water sources where 39 per cent of population use adequate sanitation facilities.

It says that the poorest children are also more exposed to diseases and are less likely to get appropriate care. Districts with large remote and rural population experience higher under 5 years old mortality rate. Immunization coverage also varies according to districts.

The report observes that education is an important factor as caretaker's knowledge and care-seeking behaviour is often related to the education level. Educated mothers are more likely to give adequate care to the sick children.

Considerable successes were achieved in Bangladesh in immunization coverage, which has increased steadily during the last two decades. Immunization is one of the factors that have played a cortical role in reducing infant and child mortality, the report says.

In case of diarrhoea, 70 per cent of the caretakers use Oral Rehydratation Therapy, which is the best way to treat the child.

The report says 92 per cent of newborn baby is protected against tetanus where 88 per cent and 81 per cent of one year-old child are immunized respectively against DPT3 and Measles.

According to the report, 30 per cent of children who are under 5 years old with suspected

pneumonia are taken to appropriate health-care providers.

It says that the impact of simple, affordable life-saving measures, such as exclusive breastfeeding, immunization, ORT and vitamin A supplementation, all of which have helped to reduce child deaths in recent years.

"Bangladesh has made remarkable progress by cutting by half the number of under-five child deaths since 1990," said David Bassiouni. Bangladesh is on the track to achieve Millennium Development Goal (MDG)-4 on child mortality reduction.

However, despite these very positive results, disparities in education, income and access to services are still affecting child survival said David Bassiouni.

He said "Reaching the unachieved and the most marginalized communities with adequate health care remains a challenge for us today in Bangladesh."

AKM Zafar Ullah Khan said, "Child mortality is a sensitive indicator of a country's development. We believe that by investing in the health of children and women, we are building a better future for Bangladesh. The remarkable advances we have made in reducing child deaths give reasons for optimism. The causes of and solutions to child deaths are well known, it is a matter of commitment to overcome the last obstacles."

The report analysis reveals that far more needs to be done to increase access to treatment and means of prevention, so the devastating impact of pneumonia, diarrhoea, childhood injuries, severe acute malnutrition can be better addressed.

The new information in The State of the World's Children 2008 is drawn from household survey as well as material from key partners, including the World Health Organisation and the World Bank.

Sexual abuse: Expulsion of JU departmental head demanded

JU Correspondent

Speakers at an open discussion meeting held at the Jahangirnagar University (JU) demanded that the authorities should frame a regulation immediately to protect female students of the University from sexual harassment.

Prof Anu Mohammad, a noted said that anti-oppression rule is very important to protect the female students from abusive acts.

The Jahangirnagar Sanskritik Jote (JSJ) with a view to pressing home their demand arranged the discussion meeting on Monday at the central auditorium of the university.

Prof Sayed Ferdous, Shamin Lutsa Nidra, M Pavel Pertha and Giti Ara Nasrin addressed the meeting among others.

On the other hand, the students of Drama and Dramatics Department of the University continued their demonstrations on the campus and have given an ultimatum to the authorities

till June 18 demanding expulsion of Associate Prof M Sanowar Hossain (Ahmed Sani), Chairman of the Department for his alleged sexual harassment of some female students of the same department.

However, the students of Jahanara Hall and Fazilatunnesa Hall of the University submitted memorandums on Saturday and Sunday to the Vice-Chancellor of the University demanding expulsion of the teacher of the department.

In the memorandum, the students complained that the Associate Prof M Sanowar Hossain (Ahmed Sani), Chairman of the Department sexually harassed four female students of the same department under the academic session 2004-2005.

Zia orphanage Inquiry report submitted

UNB, Dhaka

The inquiry report on allegations of corruption in Zia Orphanage Trust has been submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission.

The Commission, however, has directed the inquiry officer to clarify some points, as those need to be made clearer.

"The inquiry report on Zia Orphanage Trust has been submitted to the Commission. There is a need for more clarifications. The inquiry officer has been directed to clarify…," ACC director general (admin) Col Hanif Iqbal told the Commission's regular briefing yesterday afternoon.

Detained former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, her two detained sons, Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman Koko, have already been quizzed in this connection. Hanif told the briefing that a foreign grant of about Tk 4 crore arrived in 1992-1993 that was deposited with a bank and the figure rose to about Tk 5.3 crore with interest.

Later, the then Prime Minister's Office divided the money into two amounts and gave the money to two orphanage-related projects in Bogra and Khulna, he said.

"The inquiry is about financial management (of the money). The inquiry was intended to find out how logically the money has been used," Hanif said.

He said the inquiry was also to ascertain whether the two projects were implemented, who were involved with and detect whether there were any irregularities and corruption.

Responding to a question, the ACC director general did not clearly say who actually made the complaint about the alleged corruption in the Trust.

Asked who were subject to inquiries, he said it could not be said until the clarifications by the inquiry officer.

New budget to increase inflation, reduce job opportunities

Staff Reporter

Speakers at a dialogue expressed the view that the rate of inflation will rise during the 2008-09 fiscal as the Government will have to pay a large chunk of budgetary allocation for repaying loan interest.

The government will have to repay loan interest to the tune of Tk 11,274 crore to different national and multinational banks and agencies from the budgetary allocation. The size of interest will be around 12.6 per cent of the total budget. It is higher than the allocation in the education sector which is 12.3 per cent of the budget, they said.

The borrowings of the Government from the banks will in turn push up the unemployment rate in the country, they mentioned.

They were speaking at a post budget dialogue styled "National Budget 2008-09: Mass People Point of View" at the Jatiya Press Club yesterday. It was organised by Sushasoner Jonno Procharavizan (SUPRO), an alliance of local non-government organisations.

Lawrence Besra, Programme Coordinator of SUPRO presented the keynote paper while Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, Executive Member of SUPRO moderated the dialogue.

Terming the next budget as an 'inflationary measure', economist Prof Atiur Rahman said the government's borrowings from the central bank will promote inflationary trend while its borrowings loan from commercial banks will create unemployment problem as the banks will fail to provide loan to businessmen for investment.

He suggested that the government should come out from the trap of ' loan circle' in the long-term interest of the country.

He pointed out that the new budget has ignored the railway and renewable energy sectors.

He was critical of the government for less allocation in the health and the education sectors compared to the last year's budget.

The new budget has also failed to reflect on the political crisis now prevailing in the country, according to him.

Communist Party Bangladesh General Secretary Mojahidul Islam Selim said the national budget for the coming year proposed no measures to bring down the prices of essentials.

"The proposed budget had reflected the dictation of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other agencies," he said adding, "It would open the door of exploitation of our people."

Terming the budget anti-people, the former Army Chief Lt Gen (Retd) Mahbubur Rahman said that the budget has no participation of the representatives of the political parties.

Former MP Col (Retd) Farooq Khan said the caretaker government has opened the door of borrowing loans from banks by placing a defect budget.

"Finance Adviser Dr Mirza Azizul Islam has failed his last examination by placing a loan dependency budget and also sown the seeds of failure for the next elected government," he noted.

AKM Jahangir Hossain, a former MP of Awami League said the government should have prioritised aspirations of the people in the new budget.

He called upon the government to introduce rationing system in the revised budget.

GM Kader of Jatiya Party (Ershad) said we shed the mentality of preparing the budget in accordance with the guideline of the donor agencies.

Pakistan hits back over Karzai’s threat: Bush urges Islamabad-Kabul talks on militants

BSS, Islamabad

Pakistan stoked tensions with Afghanistan on Monday, summoning the Afghan envoy and vowing to defend its territory after President Hamid Karzai threatened cross- border attacks on militants.

Karzai sent relations between the two allies in the US-led "war on terror" plummeting to a new low on Sunday when he said that his war-torn country would be justified in striking Taliban rebels based on Pakistani soil.

As hundreds of Afghans took to the streets in support of Karzai's comments, US President George W. Bush said he understood the frustration in Afghanistan but urged talks to resolve the "testy situation."

Pakistani foreign office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq said Afghan ambassador Anwar Anwarzai was summoned to the foreign office on Monday "and a strong protest was lodged over President Karzai's statement."

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi condemned Karzai's "irresponsible, threatening" comments, saying in a statement that he would "like to make it absolutely clear that Pakistan shall defend its territorial sovereignty." The volatile situation on the porous 1,500-mile (2,500- kilometre) border was highlighted last week when Pakistan accused "cowardly" US-led coalition forces of killing 11 Pakistani soldiers in an airstrike.

Kabul had no immediate comment on the developments in Islamabad, but nearly 2,500 tribesmen and religious leaders gathered in two eastern Afghan provinces to back their president.

"We support Karzai. Pakistanis are coming to Afghanistan and we have evidence," Amin Jan, a tribal chief involved in one of the protests in Paktika province, told AFP.

In London, Bush urged the neighbours to expand their dialogue on how to confront militants on the frontier, possibly by restarting tribal jirgas or councils in the region.

"It's a testy situation there, and if I'm a president of a country and people are coming from one country to another, allegedly from one country to another, to kill innocent civilians on my side, I'd be concerned about it," Bush said after talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Afghan and Western officials have repeatedly accused Pakistan of failing to curb Al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists based in its troubled tribal belt and have expressed concerns over its recent negotiations with Taliban commanders.

Unity of nationalist, Islamic forces urged

Staff Reporter

Bangladesh Muslim League (Yousuf) yesterday observed the 136th birth anniversary of its founder Sir Nawab Salimullah with a call for unity of nationalist and Islamic forces to safeguard the independence and sovereignty of the country

Speakers at a discussion organised by the party at the Institute of Diploma Engineers paid glowing tributes to Nawab Salimullah for establishing the all India Muslim League in Dhaka in 1906 and said this event had a deep impact on the subsequent history of the subcontinent. They said that Bangladesh which achieved independence through a war was the result of the adoption of the Lahore resolution of the Muslim League in 1940.

Presided over by Advocate ANM Yousuf, President of the party, the discussion was addressed, among others, by former minister Nazimuddin Al Azad, JAGPA President Safiul Alam Prodhan, Ismail Hossain Bengal of BNP, Mawlana Jafarullah Khan of Khelafat Andolon,

ATM Hemayet Uddin of Islami Shashantra Andolon,Nazim Abeduzzman of BDP, MA Hannan of Jatiya Party, Advocate Nurul Haque and Kazi Abul Khair of Muslim League and Mostafa Kamal Majumder, Editor, the New Nation.

The speakers deplored that t he present generation of Bangladesh was unaware of the contribution of Sir Salimullah to the creation of Bangladesh and the university of Dhaka.

They called for a step to keep Nawab Salimullah in a rightful place in the history.

29 promoted to joint secretary

UNB, Dhaka

The government has promoted 29 officials to the post of joint secretary in its administrative powerhouse.

The jobs of the newly promoted join secretaries have been placed with the Establishment Ministry as Officers on Special Duty (OSDs) (Joint Secretaries), said an official announcement yesterday.

The promotees are Abul Fateh Md Bakhtiar, Habibullah Md Mahfuzur Rahman, MAN Siddique, M Abu Bakkar Siddique, M Jahangir Alam, Md Sirajul Islam, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Md Saifullah, AD Mohammad Abul Baset, Md Golam Rabbani, Md Shahid Ullah, Md Aftab Uddin Talukder, S Abdus Samad, Anal Kumer Chowdhury, Khandaker Md Iftekhar Haider, Md Abul Kalam Azad, Khorshed Alam Chowdhury, MA Hannan, Mohammad Moin Uddin Abdullah, KB M Omar Faruk Chowdhury, Azim Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, Kamal Uddin Bhuiyan, William Watul Kuluntunu, Amitab Chakrawarty, Khandaker Akhtaruzzaman, Begum Ruksana Nasrin, Dr GMA Jabbar Biswas and Mohammad Asif-uz-Zaman.

Meanwhile, three joint secretaries have got new postings in the latest reshuffle in the administration, another handout said.

It said OSD (joint secretary) of Establishment Secretary Mohammad Moyeen Uddin Abdullah has been transferred to Cabinet Division, OSD (joint secretary) of Establishment Secretary Mohiuddin Ahmed to Additional Divisional Commissioner of Chittagong division while OSD (joint secretary) of Establishment Secretary to Additional Divisional Commissioner of Khulna division.

Inflation dangers 'threaten Asia’

BBC Online

The threat of high inflation remains a major worry for Asia, and could undo the progress made in the past 20 years, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) says.

ADB managing director Rajat M Nag said inflation in 2008 would exceed the 5.1% annual figure predicted in April.

Rising fuel and food prices were the chief dangers behind inflation that affected Asia “good growth story”.

Rising inflation could also hit investment and corporate earnings, and destabilise governments in the region.

On Friday India said its inflation had risen at its fastest rate in seven years. And earlier in June South Korea said its inflation had hit a seven-year high as a result of rising energy and food costs.

In Vietnam inflation is more than 25% and the government has said the issue is the biggest challenge it faces.

Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines and Indonesia are facing inflation rates of between 7.5% and 11%.

The ADB has forecast 7.6% growth for the region in 2008, down from 8.7% in 2007, which was the highest in two decades.

Nag said Asian monetary and fiscal authorities should “recognise inflation as a very major concern” and indicated that raising interest rates could be one solution.

Inflation “can endanger growth in Asia,” he said, adding that “central banks should take all steps, including looking at rates as what India has done quite appropriately.”

On Wednesday India’s central bank raised a key short-term borrowing rate by a quarter percentage point to 8.0%.

Rising food prices have been spurred by rising fuel costs that have increased production and transport costs.

Asian nations such as India, Malaysia and Indonesia recently cut fuel subsidies in the face of rising world oil prices, which may send inflation even higher.

“Inflation is the most regressive form of taxation and it hits the poor most. In Asia, roughly about a billion people are vulnerable to the food and fuel price increases,” Mr Nag said.

He said governments had to ensure “targeted cash support” for the poor to protect them from the price increases, he said.

Asia is home to two-thirds of the world’s poor. It cut its poverty rate to about 19% from 33% in 1990, but Mr Nag said this improvement was under threat because of inflation.

In April the Asian Development Bank offered to support countries dealing with the effects of rising food prices.

It said loans could be made available to countries so that they can subsidise the price of staples to help the poor.