A number of organizations and networks targeting Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) have come together to launch the Healthy Bangladesh SRH Network (HBSN) to promote social and policy accountability for women.
The launching ceremony was held at a conference centre in Dhaka on Tuesday.
A simple Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed among the organizations, which highlighted the critical challenges regarding decline of maternal mortality (MMR) and child marriage.
The aim behind the HBSN network is to focus on building a collective voice to promote social and policy accountability in the areas of SRH, specifically in adolescent and women’s health related matters.
The initial set of activities of the network are set to be supported by Options Consultancy Services under the Department for International Development’s (DFID) WISH2ACTION program.
The member organizations expressed their strong commitments on population, health goals, and discussed some holistic approaches to increase women and youth engagement in SRH.
They further talked about their individual roles, which comprises creating a diverse set of organizational capacities including service-delivery, awareness-raising, research and documentation, advocacy, capacity-building, and influencing policies regarding SRH.
The founding members of HBSN include Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC), Options Consulting Services, Brac, Naripokkho, Family Planning Association of Bangladesh (FPAB), Population Services and Training Centre (PSTC), IPAS-Bangladesh, SERAC-Bangladesh, Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD), RH-STEP, Mirror Institute of Arts and Justice, Kotha, Handicap International, and Ghashful.
PPRC Executive Chairman Hossain Zillur Rahman is set to be the convener of the network.