73pc street children face chronic malnutrition: study

About 73 per cent of the street children in the Dhaka city suffer from chronic malnutrition while mortality and morbidity status among the street dwellers has reached an alarming level due to lack of basic healthcare services. This was revealed at a seminar organised in Dhaka on Wednesday by ICDDR,B to release the findings of a study on ‘Health Needs and Health Seeking Behaviours of Street Dwellers in Dhaka City'. According to the study, the disadvantaged street children are most vulnerable to various complicated diseases due to overcrowding, poor environmental status and unhygienic foodstuffs. M Jasim Uddin and Tracey Perezkoehlmoos of ICDDR,B presented the findings of the study in the dissemination seminar held in the Sasakawa auditorium of ICDDR,B. They said Bangladesh was among the countries having highest rates of growth of urban population at over 6 per cent annually. The study said massive urbanisation process was solely responsible for the large segment of street people in the Dhaka city and they remained beyond healthcare facilities. It found that the street children mostly came to Dhaka from the districts of Jamalpur, Sherpur, Mymensingh and Rajshahi. ICDDR,B in cooperation with Marie Stopes Clinic Society and Aparajeyo Bangladesh carried out the study among day labourers, rickshaw pullers, sex workers, butchers, beggars, aged between 15 and 49, at 11 major points in the city. Assistant director general of the Directorate General of Health Services Hosne Ara Tahmim spoke at the seminar as the chief guest while acting executive director of ICDDR,B MA Salam gave the welcome address. Chairman of the Department of Geography and Environment Science of Dhaka University AQM Mahbub and director general of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies Quazi Shahabuddin and Carel Van Mels of ICDDR,B spoke as designated discussants. The study recommended expansion of existing healthcare programmes to meet the healthcare needs of the street dwellers. It suggested developing a public-private healthcare mechanism to inform street people about availability of healthcare facilities. Hosne Ara said the accelerated migration from various districts to Dhaka city could be checked if the street dwellers across the country were provided with adequate healthcare services. Mahbub said street dwellers, to be about two lakh in the metropolis, were poorest of the poor in the society. Less than 15 years of old street children were not living with balanced food. Although the capital city has more than 500 hospitals, they cannot get better healthcare, he said. Salauddin said street dwellers had been gripped by a vicious circle of poverty due to their poor income growth, and simultaneously the impeded street dwellers were not seriously considered by the government and NGOs. Salam said various developing and developed countries, including India, China and USA, took multifarious steps in their respective health sectors to address health related issues, but such steps were not taken in Bangladesh.