Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 12: Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad today laid the foundation-stone of Partners in Population and Development (PPD) Secretariat building in Dhaka.
Mr Azad is currently on an official tour to Bangladesh capital of Dhaka in connection with the International Conference on “Evidence for Action: South-South Collaboration for ICPD beyond 2014” organized jointly by the PPD and Bangladesh. He would also attend PPD governance meetings.
In his address at the PPD meeting, Mr Azad acknowledged the generosity of the Government of Bangladesh for hosting the Secretariat of the Member States of PPD in Dhaka and allocating land for constructing the Secretariat Building.
Bangladesh is one of the 10 founding members of PPD. It has since 1996 not only been hosting the Secretariat but has also created a conducive environment for seamless functioning of the Secretariat.
The PPD was created in Cairo in 1994, where during the landmark International Conference on Population and Development, ten developing countries united to establish Partners in Population and Development; a unique inter-governmental organization to facilitate the implementation of the ICPD Program of Action in developing countries through South – South Cooperation, Mr Azad said.
He added that PPD currently served over 57 per cent of the world population and is a permanent observer to the United Nations.
Its membership has grown from 10 founding members in 1994 to 25 member countries in 2012 across the global south, he pointed out.
He congratulated Prime Minister of Bangladesh on being presented with the “UN South-South Award 2011” for outstanding contributions for implementation of the health-related Millennium Development Goals.
He lauded Bangladesh on reducing child mortality and its remarkable march towards achieving the MDG 4 for which the 65th General Assembly of United Nations has awarded Bangladesh Prime Minister.
“I am happy that Bangladesh has taken appropriate steps for empowering women and their equal participation in development activities in the country’’, Mr Azad said, adding that to expedite the process of their empowerment, girls are getting free education up to higher secondary school under the new Education Policy.
“The Government has also extended maternity leave to six months from four months, so that mothers can take best care of their new-born babies’’, he noted.
Mr Azad said maternal Mortality has also declined from 322 per 1,00,000 live births in 2001 to 194 per 1,00,000 live births in 2010; a 40% decline in nine years.
“I am certain that with this kind of progress Bangladesh will achieve its targets for maternal mortality’’, he added.
He hoped that PPD acts to be that catalyst which can push the population and maternal health movement forward and be the most strident advocate of global south.
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