Desk Report
Published: 12 Oct 2021, 06:35 pm
UNFPA Country Representative Dr Asa Britta Torkelsson || Photo: Collected
UNFPA Country Representative Dr
Asa Britta Torkelsson today said that Bangladesh has performed better than
Sweden, and even India, in combating COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr Asa, a Swedish citizen, said
this during a farewell call on Planning Minister MA Mannan at the latter's
office today, reports BSS.
She has discharged her duty as
UNFPA country representative for the last four and a half years.
Briefing reporters after the
meeting, the Planning Minister said the UNFPA Country Representative had noted
that although Bangladesh has almost twenty times higher population than Sweden,
but the number of deaths from the pandemic is same, which indicates the sound
COVID-19 management of the country.
Dr Asa said the people of
Bangladesh have responded well to vaccination although many citizens of several
countries around the world, including the US, refused to take the vaccines.
She opined that Bangladesh has
got back to its pre pandemic situation overcoming the losses. "The
standstill which was seen six months back is not evident now while dynamism has
been infused in economic activities in full-scale," Mannan said quoting
the UNFPA Representative as saying.
Dr Asa also assured the Planning
Minister that the operations of UNFPA would increase in Bangladesh in the
coming days.
Responding to slight concern
expressed by the UNFPA representative over the prevalence of child marriage,
Mannan had informed her that the government has been making strong efforts to
curb child marriage.
"Hopefully the incidents of
such marriages would come down in the coming days," he added.