With a view to providing health services to garment workers, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU).
BGMEA President Kutubuddin Ahmed and UNFPA Bangladesh representative Suneeta Mukherjee signed the MoU on behalf of their organisations.
BGMEA Vice-president Md Atiqul Islam, Vice-president (Finance) Md Shafiul Islam and UNFPA Assistant Representative Md Nurul Amin were also present.
Under the MoU, the UNFPA will provide 2,90,000 US dollars to the BGMEA for creating awareness about reproductive health, gender issue and prevention of HIV/AIDS among the garment workers.
Three lakh workers from 375 garment factories of Dhaka and Chittagong will get the services.
The BGMEA will implement the project under the supervision of the Ministry of Labour and Employment. The BGMEA also signed a MoU with Porichorja, a NGO working on social welfare.
BGMEA President Kutubuddin Ahmed and Porichorja Managing Director Parvez Salman Chowdhury signed the agreement on behalf of their offices.
BGMEA and Porichorja will jointly provide suggestions to garment workers on contagious and non-contagious diseases and preventive measures from sexually transmitted disease (STD).
They will also arrange workshop on various diseases like HIV/AIDS, STD and expanded programme of immunisation (EPI) for the children of the workers.