The Dhaka Times Desk WaterAid, Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Kimberly-Clark jointly organized a round table meeting titled 'South Asian Exchange on Public Sanitation' today at Lakeshore Hotel in the capital.
The guests and participants in the meeting shared their experiences and thoughts on public sanitation awareness; Besides, during the exchange of views they shed light on the issues that need to be changed. An exhibition on long-standing problems in the public health sector was organized on the occasion.
In Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Pakistan various initiatives have been taken for a long time to address the challenges related to health, hygiene and sanitation. Significant progress has been made by governments, civil society organizations, various non-governmental organizations and international donor agencies on health, hygiene and sanitation issues in these countries; However, scarcity of space and inadequate maintenance, along with rapid urbanization, have consistently created obstacles to capacity building in these areas, resulting in an ever-increasing crisis of public sanitation.
Highlighting the mentioned issue, WaterAid's South Asia Regional Office and Administrative Staff College of India emphasized the importance of working on public toilets at the regional level through this round table meeting. In this regard, the representatives of this sector from Bangladesh, Nepal and India and the representatives of the Local Government Department of Bangladesh, Dhaka City Corporation and Kathmandu Metropolitan City Office and other speakers exchanged opinions, ideas and experiences among themselves.
The round table discussion and exhibition were attended by Chief Guest Atiqul Islam, Honorable Mayor, Dhaka North City Corporation; Md. Akbar Hossain, Deputy Secretary, Local Government Department, Bangladesh; Dr Md Khairul Islam, Regional Director, South Asia, WaterAid; Hasin Jahan, Country Director, WaterAid Bangladesh; Professor V. Srinivas Chari, Director, Center for Urban Governance, Environment, Energy, and Infrastructure Development; Dr. M. Snehlata, Associate Professor, ASCI and many others. Jatiya Press Club general secretary Shyamal Dutta moderated this round table meeting.
During their visit to India, Nepal and Bangladesh in March and July this year, the honorable delegation visited various places and installations related to public sanitation facilities in Hyderabad, Warangal, Delhi, Kolkata, Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Dhaka. The need to develop and follow specific guidelines to better define aspirational public toilet features in South Asia, and their management, maintenance and financial management models, is also discussed as a future course of action.
Emphasizing the importance of mutual cooperation in addressing common problems, Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Atiqul Islam said, “Henceforth, all petrol and gas stations and shopping malls under the jurisdiction of Dhaka North City Corporation shall have separate public toilets for men and women, which are properly maintained, accessible and accessible to all. shall be gender-friendly”. He further said, “to improve the financial management of public toilets, we can now include advertising facility in them”. He assured that DNCC authorities will extend their full support in all initiatives related to public toilets.
Speaking on the occasion, WaterAid South Asia Regional Director Dr Md Khairul Islam said, “Regional education exchange events like the South Asian Exchange serve as a great platform to share best practices, ideas and innovations among ourselves. It helps in realizing the objective of creating seamless access to public toilets for women by incorporating the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and other technologies, especially in operational maintenance”.
In the event, Professor V. Srinivas Chary, Director, Center for Urban Governance, Environment, Energy and Infrastructure Development (ASCI) said, “Just like voting, access to public toilets is one of the fundamental rights of every citizen, which is also an integral part of ensuring democracy. South Asian countries are far ahead of European and American countries in terms of public toilet development.”
WaterAid Bangladesh Country Director Hasin Jahan said, WaterAid Bangladesh has already designed and built several public toilets in partnership with Dhaka North City Corporation, which are currently benefiting millions of people. He emphasized that ensuring reliable public sanitation is one of the prerequisites for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 and ensuring safe water and sanitation facilities for all. Thanking everyone present, he expressed that we are proud to be associated with the South Asian Exchange on Public Sanitation and to invite distinguished city corporations and municipal mayors and government officials from Nepal, India and Bangladesh to this event.
Moreover, various recent innovations in public sanitation are presented through exhibitions. The exhibition featured O&M Models (Bangladesh), Social Enterprise (Bangladesh), Social Audit (India), Innovation Projects (India), and Bus Tour Awareness Campaign (Nepal). During this time delegates and participants provided important information on public toilets, operations and maintenance, public-private partnerships, and the thematic elements of inclusion for innovation and monitoring. News bulletins.
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How to prevent dengue
Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral fever. This fever is different from other viral or bacterial fevers. However, this fever is not contagious in any way. This viral fever can occur alone or in combination with other viruses (chikungunya, yellow fever, Burma forest, flu, respiratory syncytial) and bacteria (pneumococcus).
Dengue fever is divided into two categories depending on the severity of symptoms and fever.
1. Common dengue fever
2. Dengue fever with bleeding.
In the case of common dengue fever, the following symptoms are mainly seen-
1. Sudden high fever lasting 2 to 7 days.
2. Severe headache.
3. Pain behind the eyes.
4. Along with the fever, red rash appears all over the body.
5. Severe pain in whole body as well as back pain.
6. Nausea or vomiting.
7. A rash or red bumps on the skin.
In case of dengue fever with bleeding:
1. Bleeding from nose, mouth or vomiting with high fever within 2 to 48 hours.
2. Fluid accumulation in chest or abdomen along with fever.
If any of these symptoms appear, seek medical attention immediately.
On the other hand
Wait at home for the first 3 days of fever. On the other hand, sponge the whole body with water every now and then. This will reduce the level of fever. Drink enough water and rest. After that, if the fever does not decrease or if it continues to increase after some time, consult a doctor immediately.
Things to do to prevent Dengue:
1. Try to keep the surroundings of the house as clean as possible.
2. If there are flower tubs or broken plastic bottles, can shells, tires or polythene inside the house, clean them quickly and drain the accumulated water from the flower tubs.
3. Spray or fog at least 3 times a week to kill mosquitoes.
4. You can keep mosquito repellent cream with you while going out.
5. After evening, younger and older members of the household should use mosquito nets.
6. Clean up any accumulated rain water, as this is the time when Aedes mosquitoes lay their eggs.
7. On the other hand, you can use mats along with mosquito nets to avoid mosquito infestation.
8. Since Aedes mosquitoes bite during the day, it is important to avoid sleeping with mosquito nets while sleeping during the day. Source: https://dmpnews.org
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