Bangladesh

ROP emerges as a growing public health concern for Bangladesh

Published

5 years ago

November 20, 2021

Ophthalmologists have identified Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), a leading cause of blindness among children in the developed world, as a growing public health concern for Bangladesh.

Speaking at a national workshop on ROP in the capital on Saturday (20 Nov), they said approximately 3.8 million babies are born in Bangladesh each year of whom 438,000 are born preterm.

According to them, a large portion of the preterm babies face the risk of blindness due to ROP.

Directorate General of Health Services’ (DGHS) Director General Prof Dr Abul Bashar Mohammed Khurshid Alam was present at the workshop as the chief guest while Directorate General of Medical Education’s (DGME) Director General Prof AHM Enayet Hussain, also the Chair of IAPB Bangladesh Chapter, presented the keynote paper.

DGHS Director Dr Md Shamsul Haque presided over the session while UNICEF Bangladesh Chief Health Dr Sanjana Bhardwaj, Orbis International Bangladesh Country Director Dr Munir Ahmed, and IRD Global Bangladesh Country Director Dr Tapash Roy joined it as the special guests. Prof Md Saifullah from National Eye Care/NIOH and Prof Nazmun Nahar from Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute and Hospital also joined the workshop.

The NNHP & IMCI Program of DGHS, with support from DGME, IRD Global, Orbis International and UNICEF, organised the workshop to foster multi-sectoral response and create an enabling coordination platform for the prevention of avoidable childhood blindness due to ROP in Bangladesh.

The DGHS director general, in his speech said “ROP is one of the severe problems among premature babies. We’ll try to include ROP in the revised version of Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health Plan operation and in the National Eye Care plan in the near future.”

“I believe that the guideline that will be formulated today will prove to be a milestone,” he added.

He advised formulation of the guideline considering the fact that some things might be included and some excluded from it.

He thanked the obstetrics and gynaecology society for being directly involved in the government’s achievement in the health sector.

The keynote presenter while reflecting on IAPB and WHO’s journey of 20 years said, “It was a race against time. We started working on childhood blindness in an organized manner in 2000 by launching Paediatric Ophthalmology Department at the National Institute of Ophthalmology. We started working with two programmes- crash programme and system strengthening.”

He further mentioned, “In 2003 we started a programme where we identified children with childhood blindness at the field level and conducted eye surgery on 25,000 children till 2010. So far we have established 22 paediatric ophthalmology centres across the country. Although we could not reach the 0.5 benchmark set by WHO, childhood blindness in the country came down to 0.6 in 2017 from 0.8 in 2003.”

He emphasized on strengthening the primary health care services, preventing preterm delivery and ensuring labour room protocol to prevent ROP.

Dr Munir Ahmed in his speech as the special guest said, “ROP is a life threatening condition that can be prevented if timely screened and treated. We need to ensure eye screening of children within 20/30 days after their birth. We need to work together in an organized manner to prevent ROP. This workshop aims at validating the collaborative efforts of ROP guidelines.”

According to papers presented at the workshop, in 2020 an estimated 1.1 billion people had vision impairment globally, of whom 43.3 million are blind.

Referring to global estimates, speakers said one out of every five children has some sort of vision problems globally and that ROP is responsible for some of the problems that occur during childhood and can lead to blindness if untreated.

According to the speakers, visual loss not only affects individuals and their families but also the community and country at large, resulting in a greater loss of productivity and taking its toll on the economy.

Bangladesh

Irene Khan appointed Bangladesh’s permanent representative to UN

Published

2 weeks ago

July 8, 2026

Liza Farhana

The government has appointed internationally renowned human rights advocate Irene Khan as Bangladesh’s permanent representative to the United Nations, granting her the rank of state minister.

The Cabinet Division issued a gazette notification on Wednesday confirming her contractual appointment.

According to the notification, Irene Khan will receive the rank, salary, allowances and other benefits of a state minister while serving as Bangladesh’s permanent representative and ambassador to the UN.

She will succeed Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury, the current permanent representative to Bangladesh’s UN Mission. Foreign ministry officials said Chowdhury is set to become the country’s next foreign secretary.

Khan has served as the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression since Aug 1, 2020, becoming the first woman to hold the mandate since it was established in 1993.

An internationally recognised advocate for human rights, gender equality and social justice, she also teaches at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.

She was secretary general of London-based Amnesty International from 2001 to 2009, becoming the first woman to lead the global human rights organisation. During her tenure, Amnesty expanded its work on economic, social and cultural rights alongside political and civil rights, and launched its first global campaign to end violence against women and girls.

From 2012 to 2019, Khan headed the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the rule of law and sustainable development.

She previously served as a visiting professor at the State University of New York Law School in 2011 and as chancellor of the University of Salford in the United Kingdom from 2009 to 2015.

Khan began her professional career with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), where she worked for 21 years in headquarters and field operations, including as chief of mission in India.

She has also served on the World Bank Gender Advisory Council, the UNAIDS High Level Panel on HIV Prevention and Human Rights, and the UN Global Compact Advisory Council. She has been a governing board member of the Overseas Development Institute in the UK, BRAC and Uganda-based Barefoot Law.

Born in Bangladesh, Khan studied at University of Manchester and Harvard Law School. She has received several international honours, including the Sydney Peace Prize, for her contribution to human rights.

Bangladesh

Tarique outlines plan for employment exchange centres, expansion of overseas labour markets

Published

2 weeks ago

July 8, 2026

Liza Farhana

The government will establish Employment Exchange Centres across Bangladesh to strengthen domestic labour market management, improve skills development and expand job opportunities, Tarique Rahman has said.

Responding to a question from Tangail-6 MP Robiul Awal in parliament on Wednesday, the prime minister said the centres would be created in line with the government’s election manifesto.

He also said the government is working to reopen the Malaysian labour market, expand opportunities in Thailand, South Korea and Japan, and revive or widen labour markets in Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates through diplomatic efforts.

The government is also actively negotiating to set up visa centres in Dhaka for European nations like North Macedonia, Serbia, Mauritius, and Portugal to ease the migration process for skilled Bangladeshi workers, he said.

He added that the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) will introduce more demand-driven language courses and increase the number of training institutions.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh extends curbs on govt-funded foreign travel, tightens rules on official vehicle purchases

Published

2 weeks ago

July 8, 2026

Liza Farhana

The government has extended restrictions on government-funded overseas travel for public officials in the ongoing fiscal year and tightened rules on the purchase of official vehicles as part of efforts to reduce public expenditure.

The Finance Division issued a notification on Wednesday saying the measures are aimed at ensuring the proper use of limited public resources, bringing inflation to a tolerable level and maintaining macroeconomic stability.

Under the directive, government officials and employees will continue to be barred from attending seminars, symposiums and workshops abroad at government expense.

The notification also imposes stricter controls on the purchase of vehicles under both development and operational budgets.

Only vehicles included in the approved Table of Organisation and Equipment (TO&E) that are more than 10 years old may be replaced, it said.

New government institutions will require prior approval from the Finance Division before purchasing TO&E-listed vehicles.

The Finance Division also instructed all government agencies to suspend expenditure from all types of block allocations.

Funding for the purchase of all categories of vehicles, including motor vehicles, watercraft and aircraft, has also been halted.

However, vehicles used for transporting personnel rather than for personal use may be replaced if they are more than a decade old.

Newly established government institutions may also procure such vehicles only with Finance Division approval.

The notification also states that, except for ambulances and vehicles used for security purposes, all replacement or newly purchased government cars and jeeps must be fully electric.

The government said the measures are intended to curb operational spending while supporting broader efforts to maintain fiscal discipline and economic stability.