UNFPA Message

Dear Readers,

It gives me great pleasure to inaugurate the first two-page monthly supplement in The Daily Star, dedicated to issues related to maternal health, family planning and gender equality in Bangladesh, sponsored jointly by The Daily Star and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Since young people between the ages of 10-30 years make up 40% of the population of Bangladesh, we want to specifically reach out to them with stories and information about the state of the Bangaldesh population when it comes to population isses, to reproductive health and rights, to fertility and family planning, and to gender equality and the status of women and girls. The two-pages are not meant to just highlight the problems, but above all also what is being done in Bangladesh about them. Because a lot is being done in this country when it comes to improving maternal health, providing reproductive health information and services, addressing high fertility and the promotion of family planning,and gender equality.
We are interested in capturing real life stories of people, women and men, who have experienced the effects of ill reproductive health, of child marriages, of gender-based violence, of maternal deaths in their families, of high fertility, and to highlight how they have overcome or dealt with these issues. These pages will also be used for provinding factual and correct information, for instance about reproductive health and family planning issues, about where to go in case of gender-based violence, about programmes and projects that have successfully addressed some of these issues.
I am extremely excited about teaming up with such a prestigious daily as The Daily Star to jointly publish this two-pages on a monthly basis. It shows the commitment of The Daily Star to use its name and reputation to educate the Bangladesh population about some of the most pressing issues of our time: population growth, maternal mortality, gender discrimination, and the protection of fundamental human rights.
I hope you will enjoy these pages.

Arthur Erken
UNFPA Representative