The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Coordination among Government organisations, stakeholders and political parties' will reduce child mortality rate which in turn will help attain Millennium Development Goal-4, speakers said at a seminar in the city yesterday.

About 400 children of the country die every day for causes related to malnutrition, the seminar was told.

Only media can help bridging the parties on child mortality reduction issues throughout its awareness programme and campaign they said.

The national seminar on 'Get on Track to Save Children's Lives' was organised jointly by Save the Children UK, Eminence, a NGO and The Editor.net.

Among others, Prof MR Khan and Prof Dr MA Faiz, Director General of Directorate General of Health Services addressed the seminar.

In his keynote speech, Dr Abu Muhammad Jakir Hossain of Eminence said, "In the health communication system, media professionals collect information to suit a selected audience, offer a range of opinions and demonstrate knowledge to the health communicators. This in turn influences public and personal behaviour, government spokespersons. In this way media community plays important role to achieve the nation and international goals."

He said, despite a great deal of attention on the role of mass media as a potentially effective channel for transferring health research information to health professionals and the consumers at large, little efforts have been devoted to attain the MDG-4 in Bangladesh. Mass media campaigns could influence the use of health services in the general population either directly or indirectly.

MR Khan said, "It is well known to all that meeting at the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000, world leaders agreed on a farsighted declaration to meet the needs of the world's poorest people. That declaration gave birth to eight goals including cutting child deaths by two thirds between 1990 and 2015."

However, the United Nations (UN) failed to cut child deaths by two thirds between 1990 and 2015 he said and added the meeting that is going to be held in this September is a key moment for the UN to get the world on track to meet this goal.

Mentioning exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months is the optimal way of feeding infants, he said that exclusive breastfeeding rate is only 37 per cent in Bangladesh.

Doctors' community, health service providers and policy makers should try to overcome the problems that act as barriers to achieve the MDG-4, Khan said and added media and civil society actors can play important role to create pressure on government, UN agencies, donors and whole policy community to take proper initiatives.

MA Faiz said, "To overcome the challenge we are badly in need of a big push that should be combined, effective pro-poor and target oriented."

He was of the view individual and institutional accountability could ensure the health services for all.