Focus on girls’ edn, health to end child marriage

Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain has stressed the importance of keeping girls in school, expanding economic opportunities, and ensuring essential health services for underprivileged communities to end child marriage, which remains widespread in Bangladesh.

"Every preventable death is one too many," he said during a meeting with Catherine Breen Kamkong, the newly appointed country representative of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), who presented her credentials at the foreign ministry yesterday.

Bangladesh has the highest rate of child marriage in South Asia, with 51 percent of girls married before the age of 18 between 2006 and 2024, according to the State of World Population 2025 report released by UNFPA on June 11.

Maternal health is also a major concern, with a maternal mortality ratio of 115 deaths per 1,00,000 live births, the report stated.

During the meeting, Touhid said keeping girls in school and addressing the needs of underserved populations -- especially in urban slums -- through improved access to economic opportunities and health services are key to building a more just and equitable society.

Catherine Breen Kamkong acknowledged Bangladesh's progress in reducing maternal mortality, saying the country's achievements -- including increased life expectancy, particularly among women -- are internationally recognised.

She said the UNFPA is committed to supporting Bangladesh in addressing both persistent and emerging challenges, including reducing inequities, advancing gender equality and sexual and reproductive health, and ending gender-based violence and child marriage.