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How to combat malnutrition branded as ‘silent emergency’

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October 10, 2000 

Dhaka-- (UNB)- Health experts stressed the need for developing effective communication training manual for spreading among the public the message of how to combat malnutrition branded as “silent emergency”.

“We have earned fame abroad regarding disaster management but are lagging behind in checking the malnutrition problem. It is important to spread the message of malnutrition, a serious issue to the people,” Mohammad Moniruzzaman, Director General of Family Planning of Health Ministry, said at the inauguration of a workshop yesterday (Monday).

International Health Communication Centre (IHCC), a branch of Worldview International Foundation (WIF), has organized the 4-day workshop .on “Communication Training Manual Development.”

The Communication Training Manual to be developed will encompass all the important negative nutrition, health and reproductive health behaviors of the people of Bangladesh. The nutrition guidebook will cover four modules having sub-modules. The modules are Communication, Nutrition, Health and Reproductive Health and Behavior Change Communication.

Speaking as chief guest Moniruzzaman said the communication manual should be made with new and different approach avoiding previous days’ one and the target group for communication should be couple-based, not mother or women-based.

In this respect, he said the existing materials and strategies could be compiled as well as assistance can be taken from developing countries for the development of effective communication training manual.

Pointing out successive steps regarding overcoming malnutrition at Mohammadpur in Magura following effective communication, he said the area had severe malnutrition and it reduced to moderate and now minimum within a short period.

The Family Planning Director said Bangladesh achieved a successive level of growth rate at 1.5 percent but it would have to further reduce.

He said the total fertility rate (TFR) was 6.3 that now declined to 3.1 but it’s not satisfactory level. The target is to cut it down to 2.2 by year 2005.

The health ministry official further mentioned that once life expectancy of Bangladeshi people was 26 years now it climbed to 60.8.

However, Dr Sadiqa Tahera Khanam, former Director of the National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM), said it is a difficult task to change the habit of the people through communication as there are many factors involved --first of all poverty should be alleviated.

In this respect she recalled her lecture to physician-students’ class when she asked to raise hand freely of smoker students. And she said several doctors were found smokers. “I asked them `do you not know the bad effect of smoking’?” So this is the situation a sexagenarian Dr Khanam said.

About policy framing, which was discussed in the inaugural session, she said it is not Minister or Secretary but from beyond them policy is imposed on the subordinates.

“We should not accept the donor countries or agencies’ messages. They want to break our fine social ties,” Dr Khanam told the opening session of the workshop amidst clapping.

In this respect she said: “Which we have followed in the past are now advising us. Who introduced the bottle-feeding to baby? Our mothers had breast-fed their children for long.”

Mohammad Ayub, Line Director and Joint Secretary of BINP of Health Ministry, Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, Editor of the Bangladesh Observer, and Dr AMM Anisul Awal, executive director of IHCC-WIF, were among others who also spoke on the occasion.