The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Dhaka

Bangladesh has made remarkable progress on health and family planning programmes in last two decades although the maternal mortality ratio is still higher with 320 per one lakh women die each year due to pregnancy related complications.

Death of mothers accounts for 20 per cent among all women of reproductive ages and the major causes for such mortality in the country are attributed to abortion, eclampsia, violence, hemorrhage, sepsis, obstructed labour and other obstetric reasons.

The observations were came at a discussion on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights at Jatiya Press Club, jointly organised by Health and Environment Journalist Forum, Bangladesh (HEJFB) and Reproductive Health Services Training and Education Programme (RHSTEP).

Senior journalist and columnist Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury moderated the discussion, in which head of news ATN Bangla Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul took part as lead discussant.

President of HEJFB Mustafiz Shafi presided over the function, where HEJFB General Secretary Saiful Islam Shameem, Executive Director of RHSTEP Quazi Suraiya Sultana and Programme manager Dr Luna Chakma spoke on the occasion.

Health journalists from both print and electronic media including, Masud Kamal, Naimul Haque, Abdul Mannan, Ayub Bhuiyan, Nashrat Chowdhury, M Enamul Haque, Jayanta Achariya, Zahirul Abedin and Irin Niazi Manna took part in discussion.

Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury said newspaper and electronic media could play a significant role in promoting knowledge and creating public opinion about safe motherhood.

He said both print and electronic media should give priority on knowledge building, groom up at least one specialised reporter to cover health issues as well as update the editing section with health terminologies for a better health journalism in the country. Sexual and reproductive health is not solely a health issue, Zaglul Ahmed said, adding it's a matter of economic development, social justice, gender equality and human rights.

He said health as a major development area seemed to be narrowly focused in the media, which usually cover a small part of the diverged issue. In this context, he said, both journalists and their superiors should give higher importance to health and protect sexual and reproductive rights.

Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul stressed the need for investigative reporting and their follow-ups on sexual and reproductive health issues, often a culturally sensitive phenomenon. He said that the quality and in-depth reports by health reporters could occupy more space in media.

In this context, he reminded health reporters to prepare good reports that would have higher market value and submit it before their editors so that the news can get priority to be broadcast or published.

He said the country now experiences three types of journalism- protocol, clerical and king fisher- which only looks at the shallow aspects of news.

"Investigative journalism are seldom found in the country," he said, urging health journalists to focus more into the in-depth reporting and project the real picture of health sector before the nation.

Suriya Sultana said they have been working for the protection of sexual and reproductive health rights for long, but occasionally their achievements are reported in media. She said media needs to come forward to help attain millennium development goals (MDGs) by 2015.