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World Health Day 2009 observed
Message on WHD 2009:
 The
World Health Day (WHD) was observed in Bangladesh as
elsewhere across the Globe on Tuesday, the April 7
2009 with the slogan ‘Safe Lives: Make Hospitals
Safe in Emergencies’. With the prime focus on the
theme of the day “Health facilities in emergencies”,
the government organised a series of interesting
week-long events beginning from April 7 in all the
health facilities of the country to ensure best
services through utilizing existing resources with a
commitment to increasing health care facilities and
services for the disaster-hit people during
emergency situations. “Various steps have already
been taken to digitize the health sector”, said the
Health and Family Welfare Minister of the Bangladesh
Government, Dr AFM Ruhal Haque, at the inaugural
function of the WHD at the Osmani Memorial Hall, as
the Chief Guest.
In his inaugural
speech, the minister said that the Government had
taken initiatives to purchase modern equipment
including ambulances and supply adequate drugs to
the hospitals. He added that Wireless internet
connections will be provided to 800 points, mobile
phones to 418 upazilla health projects and each
civil surgeon will be provided with a web camera
within a month.
Health Ministry’s
Secretary, Mr Shaikh Altaf Ali, WHO Representative
to Bangladesh, Dr Duangvadee Sungkhobol, Director
General of Health Services, Dr Shah Monir Hossain,
Director General of Directorate of Family Planning,
Mr Md Abdul Qayyum, and Director General of the
Bureau of Disaster Management, Mr Forhad Uddin, and
spoke on the launching ceremony. The minister also
visited some patients at the Dhaka Medical College
Hospital after the launching of the service week.
Different government
and non-governmental organisations also held
programmes to mark the day. “Shiree” a well-known
national NGO had put together a special function to
mark the WHD through presentation of scientific
papers on the health and nutritional status of the
Bangladeshi people. A paper by Dr Hillary Standing
was acclaimed for the data she presented to the
audience on many new dimensions of health sector
financing mechanisms in relation to covering more
poor households with modern health care systems.
The theme of the World
Health Day 2009 'Health facilities in emergencies'
underscores the need to develop joint plans of
action and response strategies so that health
facilities are made more efficient, safer and
capable of dealing with emergency health situations
at all times in order to mitigate the sufferings of
the people, she added.
 An
exhibition was also organized at the inaugural venue
with participation of 20 different health and
disaster-related organizations. Apart from these,
there were different activities at national, sub
national and community levels to mark the day, such
as, Media people’s orientation in Dhaka and other 4
divisions, Scientific Seminars at 14 medial
colleges, art and essay competitions for the
children, discussions and rallies at the district
level. The awareness-generation campaign was quite
a success.
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