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Tag: Bangladesh

Beating Breast Cancer in Bangladesh

By Sadi Mohammad Shahnewaz for The Daily Star

Clutching her baby, breast cancer survivor Basanti Majumder speaks of a pain in her left breast and fears her cancer may have returned. She stares briefly at the floor and giggles nervously. “I’m not going to the doctor now for financial reasons,” she says.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates approximately 1.38 million new breast cancer cases each year, resulting in 458,000 deaths annually.

Unsurprisingly, mortality rates are much higher in the developing world where women often only seek medical assistance and diagnosis in the late stages—unaware of what is wrong and reluctant to shell out on medical costs. In Bangladesh, poor access to medical facilities, stigmatisation and a lack of knowledge about the disease mean that a mere 11 percent of Bangladeshi women receive diagnosis in the early stages.

Like in much of the world, breast cancer is the most common cancer amongst Bangladesh’s female population, with 32.8 percent of female cancer patients suffering from this strain of the disease. The nation’s public medical services—overstretched and underfunded—simply cannot provide the care required by breast cancer sufferers.

Yet encouragingly, one organisation has taken up the plight of these suffering women. Active since 2007, Amader Gram Breast Care e-Health Centre aims to provide expert medical assistance to any woman, regardless of her economic or social situation. Having originally set up in the Khulna region of Bangladesh, the organisation now boasts one other centre in the sub-district of Rampal in the Bagerhat region, as well as a small coordination office in Dhaka.

Reza Salim, founder and director of the organisation, started off working in ICT as a government communication consultant. “I have worked primarily in ICT, and never initially planned to work on cancer,” he explains. Yet whilst working on computer literacy programmes in rural communities, Salim and his team were alarmed at the vast number of women turning up at the centre complaining of chest pains. “We also started taking small initiatives to help our localisation on the aspect of non-communicable diseases, as we realised that it was highly neglected and unattended,” says Salim.

And now in 2017, ten years after Salim created Amader Gram Breast e-Health Centre and staffed with 13 dedicated medical employees, the organisation receives anywhere between 90 to 150 new patients with breast-related health issues a month. In 2016, the organisation treated 1,968 woman and followed up with 426 of them. Salim is keen that women undergoing treatment at the centre receive all the required care in the same place—something that is a rarity in state run hospitals where patients are sent traipsing from one pricey medical centre to another.

“A big step towards treating cancer is to actually know about the prevalence of the disease and take action accordingly,” says Salim. In this conservative nation, little is known about breast cancer and women are reluctant to come forward and discuss any health concerns they may have. In order to overcome such obstacles Salim has several female physicians at the centres to help female patients feel more at ease.

Aware of the economic hardship many of the patients live, Amader Gram Breast Care e-Health Centre’s prices are adapted to their patients economic situation. A diagnostic biopsy costs Tk 12,000 (US$ 143) and a chemotherapy session around Tk 1,000 (US$ 12). The organisation even provides all breast cancer patients with a free mobile phone so that they can liaise with medics throughout their treatment.

Breast cancer survivor Mahmunda believes that she owes her life to the organisation. “When I first started noticing lumps around my breasts, I started taking homeopathic medicine. When more of them appeared, I came to this facility where Mozammel sir [a surgeon at the Khulna campus] redirected me to the correct treatment. Now, by grace of God, I am doing fine.”

Keen to put a range of pedagogical tools at the disposal of patients and their families, the organisation has also drawn up a series of guidelines for effective palliative care for those women who arrive at the centre too late and for whom the outcome is not so positive.

The team has even created an app called “AG Palliative Care” to help family members in remote areas best prepare for their loved ones’ last few moments. The app uses a short questionnaire in which patients or their loved ones can report symptoms. The information is then sent over to a centralised computer system and read over by a doctor who then suggests the best course of action for patients.

Looking towards the future the organisation intends to expand its services across the entirety of Bangladesh, hoping to save and educate as many women as possible. For the time being it is clear that Amader Gram Breast e-Health Centre has proven an exemplary stepping stone in providing breast cancer treatment to some of the countries most vulnerable women.

http://agbreastcare.org/

November 27, 2017
Court in Bangladesh sentences six men to death over 1971 war crimes

A special court in Bangladesh on Wednesday sentenced six men, including a former lawmaker, to death for crimes committed during the country’s 1971 war of independence with Pakistan.

The war crimes tribunal in Dhaka handed down the sentences against Abu-Saleh Aziz, the former member of parliament from the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party, and five others for mass killings, arson attacks and looting during the nine-month armed struggle.

Prosecution lawyer, Syedul Sumon, said three counts, including the killing of 13 elected representatives and a minority Hindu man, and the looting of homes in the northern Gaibandha district, were proved beyond doubt against the accused.

The court also asked the authorities to arrest Aziz, who was a local commander of a wartime vigilante group aiding Pakistani forces against unarmed civilians, and four of his associates, who have been on the run since the trial began in June 2016.

One of the accused was on the dock when a three-member panel of judges pronounced the verdict.

Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, set up the tribunal in 2010 to prosecute those accused of atrocities committed in the 1971 war in which some three million people died and about 200,000 women were raped, according to Bangladesh government estimates.

An earlier initiative to try the accused was called off following the 1975 assassination of Sheikh Rahman, Bangladesh’s founding leader and father of current Prime Minister Hasina.

The defendants allegedly collaborated with the occupying army during the conflict.

Most of those indicted are from Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamist party, which opposed independence.

NAN

November 22, 2017
Be potent force for peace and justice, Osinbajo tells D-8 countries

Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has urged the D-8 countries to remain a potent force for peace, justice and the observance of fundamental freedom, at all times, to enhance trade relations.

He gave the advice when he declared open the sixth D-8 Ministerial Meeting on Industrial Cooperation on Tuesday in Abuja.

The D-8, also known as Developing-8, consists of Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.

Osinbajo said maintenance of peace and justice in the D-8 countries was necessary, especially with the social upheavals, conflicts and tensions flaring up everywhere.

He told the ministers that though the present situation in the world was a time of great challenges, it was also a time of enormous opportunities.

“The fall in commodity prices has led us to deepen diversification of our economies and challenge industries to greater productivity and cost effectiveness.

“Most of our nations are achieving great milestones in the use of renewable energy while our young people, in spite difficulties, are competing with their peers in commercial use of innovation and technology,’’ he said.

He also said it was time to leverage on the clear vision of the founders of the organisation for economic cooperation by advancing the positions of developing countries in the world economy.

Other areas, he said were; diversification and create new opportunities in trade relations, enhance and provide better standards of living for the people.

Osinbajo said the organisation must begin to make concrete plans for collaboration and partnerships for areas it had marked for cooperation.

He said it could this by using its strengths and comparative advantages to advance the good of one and all of its nations.

The areas of collaboration are; finance, banking, rural development, science and technology, humanitarian development, agriculture, energy, environment and health.

He reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to enlarge the opportunities for trade and investments amongst the D-8 countries and its readiness to continue to support the work of the organisation in the areas of collaboration.

The D-8 Secretary-General, Dr Seyed Mousavi, in an address said trade was the backbone of the D-8 member states’ cooperation, adding that it needed to be improved substantially.

He said though the value of the D-8 inter-trade increased from 50 billion dollars in 1997 to around 100 billion dollars in 2015, the revenue remained below the target of the D-8 set at 500 billion dollars.

Mousavi said there was room for improvement to achieve the target set by the founding leaders, stressing that participation of member countries was very important to realise the objective.

He said networking among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the D-8 organisation was also very vital to enable them have access to knowledge and expertise.

The D-8 was established in 1997 to primarily promote industrial and other economic activities in the global economy using the same platform to fast-track the position of member countries’ activities.

The 3-day meeting is scheduled to end on Thursday.

NAN

November 14, 2017
UN appeals for $434m in Rohingya aid conference

The UN gathered donor countries in Geneva on Monday to shore up 434 million dollars in aid for the world’s fastest-growing refugee crisis that has been unfolding between Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Bangladesh, one of Asia’s poorest countries, has taken in some 580,000 minority Rohingyas who have fled alleged atrocities in Myanmar’s Rakhine state since August.

The sum is calculated to fund UN operations until the end of February in Bangladesh, which has kept its borders open, despite being one of Asia’s poorest countries.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi said: “It’s a pretty grim situation.

“The needs are massive.”

Refuges in and around the Bangladeshi fishing town of Cox’s Bazar have faced food and water shortages, lack of shelters and inadequate sanitation facilities, raising the risk of disease outbreaks.

Nearly six out of 10 refugees are children, many of them arriving malnourished.

The Rohingyas are a marginalised Muslim group in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

They have been struggling with poverty and discrimination, including the denial of citizenship rights.

In August, Myanmar security forces launched an operation against attacks by Rohingya militants in Rakhine.

UN human rights investigators have concluded that the burning of villages, persecution of community leaders as well as killings and rapes amount to a systematic effort to drive the Rohingyas out.

Beyond appealing for funds, UN leaders urged the international community to get involved to stop the violence and discrimination.

“This is not an isolated crisis,” UN emergency aid chief Mark Lowcock said, pointing to decades of “persecution, violation and displacement.

NAN

October 23, 2017
Buhari hails Bangladesh for rescuing Burma refugees

President Muhammadu Buhari has lauded Bangladesh over her assistance to persons displaced by the ongoing sectarian and ethnic crisis in Burma Rohingaya.

President Buhari, who spoke through the Chairman National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, Barrister Abdullah Mukhtar Muhammad in Makkah observed that accepting the refugees shows the Bangladeshi government’s respect for human life and dignity.

The NAHCON boss who delivered the President’s appreciation and commendation when the Bangladeshi Counsellor on Hajj, His Excellency Muhammad Maqsudu-r-Rahman paid him a working visit yesterday at the NAHCON headquarters at Ummul Jud Makkah, said Nigeria has resolved to do everything possible to ensure stress free Hajj exercise to its pilgrims and to drastically reduce the overbearing pressure on the Kingdom.

Hajj Management, he noted, should be a global responsibility, through an articulate policy and plan to ensure responsive conduct and behavior of all pilgrims while in the holy land to guard against stamped and all forms of discomfort not only among the pilgrims themselves but to their officials and those of the host government and it security agencies.

Barrister Abdullah highlighted NAHCON plans to establish Hajj training Institute, formation of a twenty four hour Haram Committee to be headed by him, for next year’s Hajj, institutionalising Hajj Saving Scheme, online registration of pilgrims from next Hajj operation, perfecting the e-medical registration, recording and attending to sick pilgrims introduced this year among others.

Barrister Abdullah who suggested that similarities and peculiarities of Nigeria and Bangladesh be effectively studied, harnessed and harmonised for the mutual benefit of the two Countries not only in the area of Hajj but in also other areas of sociocultural economic and political endeavours, also called on Bangladesh to look at the possibility of introducing wristband watches for its pilgrims, so that Nigerian pilgrims would be allowed to use theirs.

Earlier, the Bangladeshi Counsellor on Hajj Muhammad Maqsudu-r-Rahman who appreciated the warm reception accorded him and his entourage commended the cordial relationship that exists between Nigeria and Bangladesh not only on Hajj matters but in other global engagements and fora.

He said he was at the NAHCON office to understudy the Commission’s dexterity in Hajj management and the leadership role it plays in trying to unify Hajj affairs among all stakeholders the world over.

The envoy said Bangladesh with a population of about one hundred and sixty five million people, about ninety percent of whom are Muslims, had about one hundred and twenty seven pilgrims that performed the just concluded Hajj exercise.

He said a local Carrier, Biman, airlifted fifty percent of the pilgrims while the other fifty was by a Saudi carrier.

His Excellency Maqsudu-r-Rahman further stated that pilgrims under government umbrella paid about four thousand eight hundred dollars as Hajj fares while those on private arrangement were charged fifteen thousand dollars.

He stated that the Bangladeshi government subsidises only aviation fuel and other navigational charges.

Both Hajj administrators agreed that shortages of facilities and congestions witnessed this year particularly at Mashaa’ir areas were not peculiar to any Country as according to them the twenty percent quota increase this year to all nations by the Saudi authorities might have been a contributing factor to the problem.

September 28, 2017
Navy arrests six Bangladeshi, 16 Nigerians for stealing diesel

Men of the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Victory of the Nigerian Navy in Calabar has arrested six Bangladesh nationals and 16 Nigerians for allegedly illegally diverting 22 metric tonnes of diesel in an illegal Ship to Ship (STS) transfer along the Calabar water channel.

Commander NNS Victory, Commodore Salihu Ibn Danhu Jibril, the vessel, NV Princess Oge, which brought the product from offshore Lome to deliver to a tank farm in Calabar was discovered carrying out the illegal activity and was immediately arrested.

Addressing reporters on board the vessel along the Calabar Channel before handing over the suspects and vessel to the Nigerian Police Saturday, Jibril said the Princess Oge was a bunkering bunkering ship that was given permission to deliver and discharge cargo in Calabar.

“Along the way she was found to have found transfer to ship transfer illegally to another ship and consequently we arrested the ship. She was arrested and brought here and having conducted our investigation and found their operation in line with our harmonized standard procedures for illegal activities for in the marine environment, we are formally now handing over the ship, crew and cargo to the Nigerian police for further investigation and prosecution.

“The suspects include 22 persons of different nationalities. We have six from Bangladesh and 16 Nigerians. The vessel was given permission to move AGO cargo to Calabar. In line with extant regulations we are handing them over to the police. The quantity that was diverted illegally was 22 metric tonnes missing from the initial cargo that she was supposed to deliver from what she took at the port of intake. The port of intake was offshore Lome, and is supposed to one of the tank farms in Calabar.”

September 16, 2017
Natural disasters affect 41 million people in Bangladesh, India, Nepal

The UN on Thursday said at least 41 million people in Bangladesh, India and Nepal have been directly affected by flooding and landslides from the monsoon rains that begun in June.

The monsoon, according to the UN, might continue until October.

It said that over 1,700 people have died in catastrophic floods in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan as torrential rains pound swathes of South Asia during its worst monsoon season in more than a decade.

Estimates from the National Disaster Management Authority ( NDMA ) and reports showed that more than 1,300 people, mostly villagers died since the beginning of the rainy season in India alone.

The eastern Indian state of Bihar is the worst-affected with more than 500 deaths, as major rivers in spate caused large-scale inundation affecting hundreds of villages across 21 districts.

The country’s financial capital, Mumbai was slashed by heavy rains on Tuesday that claimed over 30 lives, including several from a building collapse on Thursday which officials said was caused by the intense downpour.

“In neighbouring Pakistan, heavy rains caused a massive deluge in the port city of Karachi on Thursday, killing at least a dozen people.

“The overall death toll for the season stood at more than 100, Nepal was also experiencing heavy floods which have claimed 159 lives so far,’’ NDMA said.

The country’s eastern hills and plains along the border with India were severely affected.

In Bangladesh, 141 people have died after floodwaters from upstream rivers from Indian hills swelled Bangladeshi river systems.

“Tens of thousands of homes, as well as schools and hospitals, have been destroyed leaving people displaced and homeless,’’ the UN said.

According to Jagan Chapagain, Undersecretary General for Programmes and Operations at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said “this is the worst flooding that parts of South Asia have seen in decades.

“Entire communities have been cut off, and the only way to get aid to some of these villages is by boat and many are running out of food.”

Floodwaters also become a breeding ground for diseases such as diarrhoea and malaria, aid agencies have warned.

The death toll across the region could rise as conditions could deteriorate in the coming days with more rain forecast.

September 1, 2017
Natural disasters affect 41 million people in Bangladesh, India, Nepal

The UN on Thursday said at least 41 million people in Bangladesh, India and Nepal have been directly affected by flooding and landslides from the monsoon rains that begun in June.

The monsoon, according to the UN, might continue until October.

It said that over 1,700 people have died in catastrophic floods in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan as torrential rains pound swathes of South Asia during its worst monsoon season in more than a decade.

Estimates from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and reports showed that more than 1,300 people, mostly villagers died since the beginning of the rainy season in India alone.

The eastern Indian state of Bihar is the worst-affected with more than 500 deaths, as major rivers in spate caused large-scale inundation affecting hundreds of villages across 21 districts.

The country’s financial capital, Mumbai was slashed by heavy rains on Tuesday that claimed over 30 lives, including several from a building collapse on Thursday which officials said was caused by the intense downpour.

“In neighbouring Pakistan, heavy rains caused a massive deluge in the port city of Karachi on Thursday, killing at least a dozen people.

“The overall death toll for the season stood at more than 100, Nepal was also experiencing heavy floods which have claimed 159 lives so far,’’ NDMA said.

The country’s eastern hills and plains along the border with India were severely affected.

In Bangladesh, 141 people have died after floodwaters from upstream rivers from Indian hills swelled Bangladeshi river systems.

“Tens of thousands of homes, as well as schools and hospitals, have been destroyed leaving people displaced and homeless,’’ the UN said.

According to Jagan Chapagain, Undersecretary General for Programmes and Operations at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said “this is the worst flooding that parts of South Asia have seen in decades.

“Entire communities have been cut off, and the only way to get aid to some of these villages is by boat and many are running out of food.”

Floodwaters also become a breeding ground for diseases such as diarrhoea and malaria, aid agencies have warned.

The death toll across the region could rise as conditions could deteriorate in the coming days with more rain forecast.

August 31, 2017
Bangladesh: Rana, owner of 2013 collapsed building jailed for 3 years.

A special court in Dhaka on Tuesday sentenced Sohel Rana, the owner of Rana Plaza, an eight-storey building in Bangladesh that collapsed in 2013 to three years imprison over his ill-gotten assets.

More than 1,100 people, mostly garment workers, were killed and 2,500 others injured when the building that housed five garment factories collapsed.

The Judge, Imrul Kayes found Rana, guilty of accumulating property and money through corrupt practices.

The investigator, Mahmbubul Alam, said that Rana constructed two commercial buildings, including the one that collapsed on April 24, 2013, in Savar, 20 kilometres north of Dhaka.

He said Rana derived the money from undisclosed sources.

Rana was arrested four days after the collapse of the building, described as the worst-ever industrial disaster in Bangladesh.

Most of the victims were employees of five garment factories who resided in the bulding.

According to Rana’s lawyer, Faruk Ahmed, Rana has been charged in five other cases, including one for culpable homicide over the death of the workers due to his negligence.

An Anti-Corruption Commission had launched investigation against Rana and his family over his wealth after the deadly collapse.

The April 2013 collapse highlighted the grim conditions in Bangladesh’s garment industry, which earns more than 25 billion dollars a year from exports, mainly to the U.S. and Europe.

Low wages in the South Asian country have led global brands and retailers to prefer Bangladesh over China, the world’s leading apparel exporter.

Bangladesh has the world’s second largest garment industry, with nearly 4,000 factories employing about four million workers, mostly women.

August 29, 2017
Bangladesh investors to build ceramic factory in Kogi

Bangladesh High Commissioner to Nigeria, Maj.-Gen.Sharif Kaikoba, said arrangements had been concluded by some investors from his country to establish a ceramic factory in Kogi.

Mrs Petra Akinti-Onyegbule, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Kogi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Lokoja.

Kaikoba said the industry would have taken off since, but had to put it on hold because of the security challenges facing the state.

He explained that his country had a genuine and sincere interest in the economic development of the state.

The high commissioner also commended Gov. Yahaya Bello for the noticeable improvement in the security situation in the state, and called for its sustenance to create enabling environment for foreign and local investors.

“My visit is to discuss economic opportunities with the governor is in furtherance of the existing cordial relations between Nigeria and Bangladesh,’’ he said.

Responding, Gov. Bello highlighted the enormous opportunities which abound in the state, especially in the areas of agriculture and mining, and called on investors to exploit the opportunities.

He said that the security challenges facing the state had become history, commending the security agencies and the people of the state for their collective efforts at tackling the security problems headlong.

“Crime has drastically reduced as criminals cannot freely ply their trade in the state anymore,” he said.’’

The governor told the high commissioner that he would not allow bureaucratic bottlenecks to frustrate the efforts of the investors to establish the ceramic factory in any area of their choice in the state.

He also promised to continue his efforts at promoting economic growth in the state through creating ease of doing business, tax reforms, better infrastructure, and provision of incentives for investors.

August 27, 2017