Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will arrive in the capital Dhaka Sunday evening on a three-day tour of Bangladesh.
During his stay here, the UN chief will visit a community clinic in the in the north-east region of Moulvibazar, where community health workers are being trained in a government-led effort to drastically increase the number of women who give birth with a skilled birth attendant.
He will also visit a joint project of the government and the non-governmental organization BRAC, which illustrates how empowering women through microfinance impacts the health of their communities.
In the capital, Dhaka, he will stop at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (ICDDR,B), one of the oldest health research institutions in Bangladesh. It developed the Oral Rehydration Solution, which is considered one of the most significant medical breakthroughs of the 20th century.
The hospital affiliated with the Centre receives 120,000 patients a year, two thirds of whom are children.
Jointly with the prime minister, the secretary-general will address the Climate Vulnerable Forum gathering in Dhaka, a UN press statement said.
The secretary-general will pay tribute to the contribution of Bangladesh to United Nations peacekeeping efforts by visiting the Bangladesh Institute of Peace Support Operation Training (BIPSOT). He will also meet with the families of those peacekeepers who perished in the line of duty.
He will give a public address at the University of Dhaka, where he will also be bestowed an honorary degree.
While in Bangladesh, the UN chief will meet the prime minister, the president and the opposition leader, as well as the foreign, health and finance ministers. He will also meet with private sector leaders on women’s and children’s health.
He will leave Dhaka for Bangkok on Wednesday morning.
BBN/SSR/SI-13Nov11-10:57 am (BST)
