The New Nation - Internet Edition

Garment manufacturers and exporters have taken a programme to protect their workers from the risks of HIV/AIDS infection. Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has already trained 66,000 of its 24 lakh workers under a `life skill education' programme with UN population fund in different factories."The number of trained workforce on HIV is not so big compared to the total workers, but it's a good beginning," BGMEA president Anwar-ul- Alam Chowdhury Parvez said at a function at a city hotel yesterday.Parvez said they have a plan to sensitize in phases all of their workers, many of whom are being sexually exploited and fall prey to the unprotected sex due to ignorance and adhoc emotions.

He said the public health interventions by BGMEA has already

achieved the lowest rate of total fertility (TFR) at 1.7, far below the national average of 2.7 and the targeted 2.2 by 2015.

In this context, he urged the government to help BGMEA in

attaining their millennium development goals (MDGs) 4, 5 and 6 on maternal and child survival as well as halting HIV.

Health Secretary AMM Nasir Uddin said prevention was the main objective of the government to improve public health status in the country. He appreciated the BGMEA-UNFPA joint programme on HIV and said it should also include family planning components.

Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof MA Faiz, Line Director of National AIDS STD Programme (NASP) Dr Mohammad Ishaque Khan and Country Director of Population Council Dr AK Obaidur Rob, among others, spoke on the occasion.