Health journalists have been urged media to play active role in making people aware of the non-communicable diseases (NCDS) which appear as a major killer in Bangladesh. Founder and President of National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh National Professor Brig. (Rtd.) Abdul Malik made the call at the inaugural of ‘NCD Media Workshop’ held at the National Heart Foundation Hospital and Research Institute auditorium on Thursday.
He said it is important to publish news regularly to increase public awareness of various risks of NCDs and to influence policy makers to adopt public health policies to prevent those diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer and COPD. For this purpose, the workshop was organised to exchange views with the journalists about the various type of news on health.
Prof Sohel Reza Chowdhury, Head of the Department of Epidemiology and Research of the Institute, highlighted the recent situation of NCDs in Bangladesh. Dr. Md. Khalequzzaman, Associate Professor of Public Health and Informatics at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University shed light on what could be more news on the prevention of non-communicable diseases.
During the program, a documentary on tobacco victims was shown and discussed by the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh's project officer Dr. Ahmad K Abrar. Also, Bangladesh Post's Special Correspondent Nurul Islam Hasib spoke on the role of media in preventing NCDs. Taufiq Maruf, President of Bangladesh Health Reporters Forum, was also present as special guest on the occasion.
