Bangladesh has many challenges in terms of facing the deadly scourge of HIV/AIDS, empowering women, stopping early marriage, violence against women and reducing the growth of population, an UN official said here Tuesday.

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director and Under Secretary General of United Nations Thoraya A Obaid now visiting Bangladesh told a press conference that the Bangladeshi government as well as other development partners should look into the issues very seriously to turn the country into an advanced nation.

She said in Bangladesh, like many other Muslim countries, the HIV/AIDS problem is very low. "However, there are some population groups among where it can become higher, for example the sex workers," she said.

Thoraya added that the danger will be much higher if the information can not be spread among the young group of people who go to the sex workers.

She underscored the need for building awareness on the HIV/AIDS among all groups of people.

"Providing correct information on the deadly disease to young people on how to protect them is very important," she said.

In Bangladesh the first case of HIV was detected in 1989. According to a 2004 UN study, HIV infections have tripled in the last six years. UNAIDS estimated that 13,000 adults and children were living with HIV at the end of 2002.

However officially, till December 2004, only 465 cases were reported. Of these, 87 have developed AIDS, and 44 have died.

According to international funding agencies, significant underreporting of cases occurs because of the country's limited voluntary testing and counseling capacity. The social stigma attached to the disease is a further impediment.

Thoraya said that the outer world knows Bangladesh by the data as well as by the information and the world community always uses Bangladesh as an example of making progress in different social sectors.

She lauded the progress Bangladesh made in girls' education, reducing the death of mothers and children and ensuring good primary health system.

"However, this does not mean that Bangladesh does not have challenges. It still has many challenges to go to meet Millenium Development Goal (MDG) as adopted in the general assembly by the year 2015."

An official statistics says an estimated 14,000 Bangladeshi women die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth each year.

UNFPA is working with the Bangladeshi government and other development partners to improve safe motherhood. The UNFPA is working to increase the number of skilled birth attendant from 1, 500 to 13,000 by the end of 2020.

About fistula, Thoraya said thousands of Bangladeshi women die every year due to fistula caused by early marriage and early pregnancy.

She laid emphasis on stopping the early marriage to wipe out fistula from Bangladesh.

"We have a plan to turn the existing fistula center at Dhaka Medical College Hospital as a center of excellence so that the patients from South Asia including Pakistan and Afghanistan can take treatment," she added.

On population issue, the UNFPA executive said the Bangladeshi women now want to have less children. It is a big success of Bangladesh.

Some 30 years ago a prospective mother had wanted six to seven children that came down to two at present.

Thoraya urged the government to ensure necessary reproductive and family planning services so that the women can be able to plan their life.

The demographic and health survey shows that although the Bangladeshi women now want less children. Of all the least developed countries, Bangladesh has the highest population density.

The current population is 140 million and if trends stay the same as today, another 70 million people will be added in next 45 years.

Source: Xinhua