City Desk :
Concerted efforts of all the government and non-government organisations concerned can be the effective means of ensuring friendly health and reproductive healthcare services to adolescent boys and girls for their physical and mental development equally.
Utmost emphasis should be given on generating awareness among the public in general so that they can provide adolescent-friendly health services to their growing children as they are the future contributors to the nation.
Health experts and medical persons came up with the observation recently while addressing a multi-sectoral sensitization and view-sharing meeting on adolescent-friendly healthcare servicesin Rajshahi.
The Maternal and Child Healthcare Services Unit of the Department of Family Planning (DFP) hosted the meeting at the conference hall office of the Deputy Director of Family Planning in the city, reports BSS.
DFP Line Director Dr Mahmudur Rahman addressed the meeting as the chief guest while its Divisional Director Mahbub Alam and Deputy Director Dr Farid Uddin Ahmed spoke as special guests with Rajshahi Deputy Director Dr Kastory Amina Queen in the chair.
The experts unanimously attributed that the present government under the dynamic and visionary leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been working relentlessly to ensure adolescent and reproductive healthcares.
They urged the field-level officers and employees to supplement the government endeavor through performing their respective duties with utmost sincerity and honesty.
Dr Monzur Hossain, programme manager of the Adolescent and Reproductive Health, gave an illustration on aspects of ensuring adolescent and reproductive healthcare for the sake of building a healthy nation.
He told the meeting that malnutrition puts adolescents into a state of compulsion to usually suffer from physical and mental disorders that appear as a threat to their future development.
Some of the major nutritional problems like protein energy malnutrition, vitamin A deficiency, iodine deficiency disorder, iron deficiency anemia, low birth weight, over nutritional and its complication and lack of nutrition knowledge need to be removed with collective efforts.
Time has come to improve the nutritional status of both adolescent boys and girls as the highest rate of malnutrition has been found among them living in the slums of the city, he added.
In his remarks, Dr Mahmudur Rahman said the service delivery organisations should arrange necessary counseling and group meetings for adolescents and courtyard meetings for family members and children to discuss the need-based issues.
