ZCZC
BSS-35
BANGLADESH-UNFPA-COVID
Australia, UNFPA support Bangladesh’s COVID-19 response
Dhaka, June 16, 2020 (BSS) – Australian government and the UNFPA are supporting Bangladesh in strengthening the provision of life-saving services for women and girls amid COVID-19 pandemic.
The UNFPA with support of Australian government has installed two tents at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and OGSB Hospitals in the capital to screen patients, including pregnant women, for COVID-19 to mitigate risks of infection, a press release said here today.
An estimated 72,000 women will be screened under the initiative in the next six months, it added.
Additionally, 4,172 dignity kits will be distributed among women and girls of reproductive age and the third-gender community in Bangladesh, the release further added.
These kits consist of items such as clothes, sanitary napkins, women’s underwear, bathing soap, laundry soap, nail clippers, hair oil, combs, rubber sandals, toothpaste, toothbrushes, hand sanitizers and mosquito repellents.
The items were officially handed over during a virtual meeting today held among Australian High Commissioner Jeremy Bruer, UNFPA Representative Dr AsaTorkelsson and Member of the National Technical Advisory Committee on COVID19 Professor Dr Rowshan Ara Begum.
They observed that women and girls in Bangladesh would continue to have access to sexual and reproductive health services, including response services to gender-based violence by strengthening maternal healthcare and access to essential supplies.
BSS/PR/TA/RY/1901 hrs