25-06-2022

SATURDAY, JUne 25, 2022
3
On Friday, under the supervision of BGB's Sunamganj Battalion (28 BGB),
relief materials were distributed among a total of 600 helpless families in
Baliakandi village of flood-hit Surma union of Sunamganj Sadar upazila
and Birampur village of Rangarchhar union.
Photo : Courtesy
Dengue: 21 new patients hospitalised
DHAKA : Twenty-one more dengue patients were hospitalised in 24 hours until Friday
morning. Among them, 16 patients were admitted to different hospitals in Dhaka during the
period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
As many as 110 dengue patients, including 102 in the capital, are now receiving treatment
at hospitals across the country. On Tuesday, the directorate reported the first death of the
season from the mosquito-borne viral disease. This year, the DGHS has recorded 885 dengue
cases and 774 recoveries so far. Dengue - a leading cause of serious illness and death in some
Asian and Latin American countries - was first reported in Bangladesh in 2000 and claimed
93 lives. In three years, the fatality number almost fell to zero. However, 105 dengue patients,
including 95 in Dhaka division, died in 2021. Dengue is found in tropical and sub-tropical
climates worldwide, mostly in urban and semi-urban areas. About 4 billion people, almost
half of the world's population, live in areas with a risk of dengue, according to the US Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
Security beefed up to
make Padma Bridge
opening programme
successful: IGP
MADARIPUR : Inspector
General of Police (IGP) Dr
Benazir Ahmed has said all
sorts of security
arrangements have been
taken in order to make the
public meetings, attended by
Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina, successful on the
occasion of Padma Bridge
opening programme on
June 25.
He told the newsmen on
Friday afternoon after
visiting the meeting place in
Banglabazar Ghat area at
Shibchar under Madaripur
district. "Steps have been
taken as all the people can
return to their homes safely
from here after the public
meeting," said the IGP.
Officials from all the
government agencies
including SSF, DGFI, NSI,
district police, highway
police and river police are
now being deployed here to
conduct the security
arrangements.
Replying to a query on
whether there is any threat at
the Padma Bridge opening
programme, Dr Benazir said:
"We are collecting update
information just every
moment...
Security
arrangements have been
strengthened not only at the
meeting place of the Padma
Bridge opening programme.
DMP arrests 68 for
selling, consuming
drugs in city
DHAKA : The members of
the Detective Branch (DB) of
the Dhaka Metropolitan
Police (DMP) in several antidrug
raids arrested a total of
68 people on charges of
selling and consuming drugs
during the last 24 hours till
6am yesterday.
The DB in association
with local police carried out
the drives simultaneously at
different parts of the
metropolis from 6am of
June 20, according to a
DMP release. In separate
anti-drug raids, police seized
huge drugs from their
possessions.
During the anti-drug
raids, police seized 272 gram
and 90 puria (small packet)
of heroin, 69.800 kilograms
of cannabis (ganja), 6,018
piece of contraband yaba
tablets, 37 bootle of local
made liquor and 144 bottle
of phensidyle from their
possessions, the release
added. Police filed 45
separate cases against the
arrestees in these
connections with respective
police stations under the
Narcotics Control Act.
Faculty of Fine Art and Printmaking Department of Dhaka University jointly organized a program on
the occasion of birth centenary of renowned artist Safiuddin Ahmed.
Photo : Courtesy
IFAD: Integration of nutrition in
all dev interventions sought
DHAKA : Nutrition interventions
play a crucial role to empower
women, ensure dietary diversity,
build a climate-resilient food system,
and boost the overall economy, said
experts at a seminar in the city.
Jointly organized by the
International Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD) and BRAC
James P Grant School of Public
Health on Thursday, the seminar
aimed to provide a platform to share
lessons on nutrition-sensitive
agriculture and food systems, identify
good practices and potential areas of
collaboration with different
government agencies, development
partners, and private sectors.
Bringing together experiences from
IFAD and BRAC University speakers
shared learnings on using
gastronomy as a development tool
and empowering women to achieve
sustainable nutrition impacts that
contribute to overall food systems,
said a media release on Friday.
"When we consider a food system to
be healthy, we tend to investigate and
invest in maximizing profit and
quantifiable indicators. Instead, we
have to start considering an
integrated system where you include
diversity, health, and social factors.
The same applies to nutrition
interventions which can be used as a
tool to transform agriculture and our
food systems," said Arnoud
Hameleers, IFAD Country Director
for Bangladesh.
Drawing further on how IFAD's
investment and work in nutrition
across nations, Joyce Njoro, IFAD
Technical Specialist, Nutrition and
Social Inclusion said, "Nutrition and
food security are at the heart of
IFAD's work through its nutritionsensitive
projects, which address
underlying causes of malnutrition
related to inadequate household food
security, maternal and childcare, and
environmental health."
"IFAD works in food -
horticultural, crops, livestock, fish,
wild foods, bio-fortified crops -
production along with food
processing, preserving, storing, and
marketing, supporting nutrition
education at the community level,
mainstreaming gender equality and
empowerment, and policy
engagement," added Njoro while
underscoring the importance multisectoral
coordination to implement
nutrition-sensitive projects.
Underscoring the importance of the
human and social factors, Barnali
Chakraborty, Associate Scientist,
BRAC James P Grant School of Public
Health said, "Development
intervention alone cannot change the
nutrition status in the country. It is
crucial to improve individual
capabilities to bring impact at the
community and national level by
integrating health, agriculture,
women empowerment, and other
social factors in the development
interventions. Communities'
capabilities need to be enhanced to
achieve children's nutrition."
Participants representing different
government agencies, national
implementors, and development
partners utilized this seminar as a
platform to explore new ways of
strengthening the impact of
nutrition-sensitive development
interventions and leverage nutrition
as a development tool to transform
rural Bangladesh.