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Country makes exceptional health progress despite poverty

Bangladesh has had 40 years of exceptional progress in health, with infant mortality down, life expectancy up and good disease control, all despite being one of the world’s poorest countries, researchers said on Thursday. Most often in the news for its poverty or natural or manmade disasters, such as a factory fire that killed 1,129 people in April, Bangladesh was described in studies published on Thursday as a “remarkable success story” and one of the “great mysteries of global health”. “Over the past 40 years, Bangladesh has outperformed its Asian neighbours, convincingly defying the expert view that reducing poverty and increasing health resources are the key drivers of better population health,” said Professor Mushtaque Chowdhury from Dhaka’s BRACUniversity, who co-led a serie...

Political crisis in Bangladesh: From editorial of NYT

Since the year began, a series of general strikes have paralyzed Bangladesh, and hundreds have died in violent clashes between rival political factions. Top opposition leaders and human rights activists have been arrested. Courts have delivered guilty verdicts and death sentences that flout the most basic standards of due process. newyorktimesResponsibility for this crisis sits squarely with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the leader of the Awami League party. Ms. Hasina seems determined to hang on to power in advance of general elections...

UK Parliamentary Group releases report on RMG

The All Party UK  Parliamentary Group (APPG), chaired by Anne Main, has released a report “After Rana Plaza: 2013” on the readymade garment (RMG) industry in Bangladesh. The report is the result of six months of research into the causes of, and circumstances surrounding, the RanaPlaza collapse, conducted by the six-member APPG fact-finding mission in Bangladesh, which interviewed and discussed policy recommendations with stakeholders from the Bangladesh garment indsutry. Relatives mourn as they show a picture of a garment worker, who is believed to be trapped under the

Hasina denies Bangladeshis involved in GE13

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has denied the Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s claim that 40,000 of Bangladeshi people were involved and voted for the Barisan Nasional (BN) in Malaysia’s 13th general election(GE13). Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said during his meeting with Sheikh Hasina, the South Asian leader shook her head in disbelief at the claim. hasina -najibNajib also said if the claim that his visit to Bangladesh was to meet and thank those people for voting for the BN in the last ge...

World Toilet Day: American Standard gives toilet systems to Bangladesh

American Standard has donated almost a half million life-improving SaTo sanitary toilet pans throughout Bangladesh. On the 12th annual World Toilet Day — and the first officially recognized by the United Nations — the company celebrates the toilet with a progress report on its Flush For Good campaign. The donations are expected to improve the lives of 2.5 million residents of Bangladesh during 2013 and 2014. Installations underway will be complete by the end of 2014. American Standard is executing the program with partners BRAC, WaterAid and Save the Children. Including a new initiative underway for Sub-Saharan Africa, American Standard expects to provide sanitation solutions for a total of 5.5 million people by 2017.

Reality squeezes a new startup

A startup tote-bag maker in Bangladesh is testing the limits of the country’s rough and tumble garment industry. Kazi Monir Hossain, a volunteer rescue worker at the deadly RanaPlaza garment building collapse in April, wanted to help factory workers get back to work after the disaster. But many swore they would never set foot in a garment factory again. So  Hossain used donor money to set up a business making jute and cotton bags. Four months into the venture, Oporajeo—the Bangla word for “invincible”—employs 21 former RanaPlaza workers. In a small workshop on the same street as their former worksite, the recruits sew coarse and colorful jute into simple tote bags, flower-patched purses and wine carriers. “Once upon a time jute was very famous in Bangladesh,” says  Hossain. “We...
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