Bangladesh has made a significant progress on the frontline International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) goals and objectives, and placed the highest importance to people-centric development, said State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Meher Afroze. Afroze, addressing the Sixth Asian and Population Conference in Bangkok, highlighted the remarkable success of Bangladesh in reducing infant mortality and maternal mortality rates. The ministerial segment of the Sixth Asian and Pacific Population Conference, which started in the capital city of Bangkok on Thursday, according to a message received here. The Sixth Asian and Pacific Population Conference commenced on September 16 with the Senior Officials Segment and will conclude on September 20. Meher Afroze also said the rate of enrolment in primary education in Bangladesh has improved to around 97 percent while the rate of school dropout has dropped to about 30 percent. Bangladesh has the lowest unmet need for family planning amongst the LDCs and in South Asia. “Our highly gender-sensitive Education Policy has proved as an effective enabler to achieve gender parity,” she said. The State Minister said appropriate policy interventions and right investment in health, education and youth employment generation aimed at launching a new phase in economic, social and structural transformation in Bangladesh. “We’re committed to reducing adolescent pregnancies, including through social mobilisation and providing adolescent friendly sexual and reproductive health services,” she stated. The State Minister expressed her optimism that Bangladesh will craft a blueprint of action on population and development focusing on universal health coverage, prioritising youth development, social protection for marginalised and vulnerable segment of the population; elimination of gender-based violence; ensuring greater protection and promotion of the rights of migrants; addressing population dynamics and impact of environmental and climate changes on population and development. Meher Afroze is leading a 10-member delegation which includes Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Bangladesh Ambassador to Thailand and Permanent Representative to ESCAP, Additional Secretary of Economic Relations Division, Director General of Directorate of Women Affairs and other officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Bangladesh Embassy. The five-day conference, organised by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in cooperation with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), will be instrumental in shaping the regional population agenda for the next decade. The conference will adopt a Ministerial Declaration that will serve as the Asia-Pacific regional input to the global 20-year review of the ICPD. Meher Afroze will be attending the High Level Panel Session on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics: Know Your Population on the second day of the session. – UNB
