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4 MONDAY, APRIL 24, 2017 DT David Cameron due in Dhaka April 26 • Syed Zainul Abedin Former British prime minister David Cameron is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on a two-day visit starting from April 26. The British politician is expected to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on April 27, said a diplomatic source in the Foreign Ministry. According to the source, Cameron is coming to Bangladesh at the invitation of a local NGO, and will be inspecting its development activities during his stay here. Cameron would undertake his first ever visit to Bangladesh ever since he stood down on the back of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union last year. • News Countrywide situation improves, yet CHT remains extremely malaria endemic • Nawaz Farhin Despite significant success in preventing malaria between 2010 and 2016 throughout Bangladesh, the prevalence rate of the mosquito-borne infectious disease still remains very alarmingly high across Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), especially in the remote areas. The ailment has been endemic in 71 upazilas under thirteen eastern and northeastern districts in Bangladesh’s border belt covering 98% of total malaria cases. The three hill districts – Bandarban, Rangamati, and Khagrachhari – alone reports 93% of the cases. Mentioning the figures from the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Abul Kalam Azad yesterday said the CHT districts are seeing higher malaria cases as they are along the border and forested areas. He was addressing a media briefing jointly organised by the NMCP and NGO organisation Brac before the World Malaria Day on April 25. An NMCP estimate says the number of people diagnosed with Malaria dropped by 50% in 2016 with 27,737 cases, whereas the figure stood at 39,719 and 57,840 in the previous two years. Some 55, 837 cases were registered in 2010. Deaths from malaria dipped by 54% last year when 17 people died. Malaria claimed nine lives in 2015, which is one-fifth the figure recorded a year ago. In 2010, malaria saw 37 people dying. NMCP Monitoring and Evaluation Expert Dr Md Nazrul Islam said Bangladesh needs to go a long way for malaria eradication since 17.5 million people are still at risk of the disease. He insisted on a fresh guideline targeting challenges, including surveillance in non-endemic areas, that were not addressed before. He also recommended reducing malaria cases in the most endemic districts, ensure proper services for the higher risk groups, and bolster the existing surveillance system to help plug gaps in combating malaria. Speakers at the programme suggested hot spot identification based on village-level malaria cases, SMS-based real time case reporting, verbal autopsy of all malaria deaths, and unique referral system of malaria patients from respective community. Sania Tohmina, director of Disease Control of DGHS, and Dr SM Akhtaruzzaman, deputy programme manager of NMCP, among others, also spoke at the event. • Bangladesh to spend $97m in vaccination project • Nawaz Farhin Bangladesh has a budget of $97 million to spend on sustainable vaccination programme in 2017 throughout the country. A total of 17% of the budget will be funded by the development partners of the Maternal Neonatal Child and Adolescent Health Programme, Dr Jahangir Alam Sarker, line director of the programme, said yesterday. Dr Jahangir was speaking at a press briefing at the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) in Mohakhali, Dhaka. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the country office of World Health Organisation (WHO) jointly organised the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) in Bangladesh to mark World Immunisation Week. The programme will begin on April 24 and conclude on April 30. The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) will host the EPI programme titled “Vaccines Work to Save Lives” in 2017 on behalf of the WHO. Abul Kalam Azad, director general of DGHS, said the ratio of vaccine receiver children under one year has increased from 2% to 99% between 1985 and 2015. ”The project had six antigens to offer in 1979 and it has 11 in 2015. We aim to make it 13 in 2018,” said the DGHS director general. The programme aims to increase awareness among Bangladeshi people about vaccination and promote locality-based awareness creation programmes. Bangladesh has the polio free status since 2006 and achieved the Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Elimination goal in 2008. • Young Bangladeshi innovators compete in Manila • Tribune Desk Team Parasitica, with three Bangladeshi innovators, are competing in the South East Asia regional final round of Microsoft Imagine Cup 2017 in Manila, Philippines. The skill-based competition run by the software giant began yesterday and will run until April 26. Thohidul Islam and Syed Nakib Hossain from the Electrical and Electronic Engineering department and Fazle Rahat from the Computer Science and Engineering department are all final-year students at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. Their project is an app, fasTnosis, which allows users to self-diagnose parasitic diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, etc. “This opportunity has propelled our drive towards introducing greater convenience and comfort for people globally,” Thohidul, team leader of Parasitica, said. The top seven teams from the regional final will head to the World Finals this July. •
Mayors lock horns over coloured bus plan • Shohel Mamun An uncomfortable scene ensued during a meeting among the Road Transport Ministry and the two Dhaka city corporations yesterday when the south mayor accused his counterpart of bypassing him on a citywide plan. The focus of the ninth board meeting of Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA), held at the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) headquarters, was Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Annisul Huq’s famous colour-coded bus plan, which he has been talking about since taking office. In the meeting, Annisul unveiled that a consultant team had carried out a study and was almost done drawing up a proposal. But he was interrupted in the middle of his PowerPoint presentation by the South Mayor Sayeed Khokon, who asked: “I do not know about the study and colour-coded buses. Will the colour-coded buses run in the north city corporation only?” Annisul replied: “No, the buses will be run throughout Dhaka.” Several seconds of silence ensued as Mayor Sayeed exchanged looks with other officials who were present in the meeting. He asked again: “Why were we not informed about this important plan?” The north mayor appeared dismissive of his colleague, saying: “You will be informed in time. The initiative came from the road transport ministry and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already been informed.” Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, who was presiding over the meeting as DTCA chairman, intervened, saying: “Sayeed, you are being informed through this meeting. Please do not create any misunderstanding over the matter.” Mayor Sayeed appeared unwilling to concede. He continued: “How funny it is that the DNCC mayor did not inform us about the issue. Even the bus owners did not News 5 MONDAY, APRIL 24, 2017 inform us.” Khandaker Enayetullah, secretary general of Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Malik Samity, said: “We tried to meet with you, but never we got any appointments.” Sayeed replied: “I am always available at my office. You have never contacted me.” Annisul interrupted, saying: “You are my younger brother, I will discuss the issue personally with you.” The tiff appeared to end there. Annisul said at the meeting that the study conducted recommends operating 4,000 buses of six different colours under six companies to solve the indiscipline in the public transport system. “After completion of the detailed project plan, we will disclose the plan or the policy through a seminar. Then the prime minister will decide who will execute the plan. We do not know if it will be the city corporations or the road transport authority,” he added. • DT Raudha’s father says all clues hint she was strangled • Abdullah Al Dulal, Rajshahi Mohamed Athif, the father of Maldivian model and Rajshahi Islami Bank Medical College student Raudha Athif, reiterated that his daughter did not commit suicide, who he said was murdered. During a press meet in Rajshahi yesterday morning, he said there were numerous inconsistencies in the evidence found in the crime scene, and also in the autopsy report. Athif said: “During a suicide, one would throw saliva and urinate involuntarily, and the limbs would not remain unkempt at the spot of death. But, Raudha’s body was found with her fists tightly clenched, a common case in strangulation.” “Even, finger impressions were clearly found on her neck, which would not have been there had she really hanged herself. Such marks could not have formed from hanging using a cotton scarf,” he observed. Mohamed, also a doctor, said all the clues found so far only point towards a death caused from strangulation. He said a conspiracy to cover up the death by labelling it as a suicide is going on. “Since nobody saw her hanging and all the photos show the body lying on the bed, it only deepens the doubt that Raudha did not hang herself,” Mohamed added. He questioned the ongoing investigation and autopsy result that ruled the death a self-killing. He raised his eyebrows over the forensic team and hospital authorities, accusing them of negligence in post-mortem. Athif said neither an X-ray nor an MRI test had been conducted upon Raudha’s head or neck during the autopsy. Raudha, 20, was found dead at her medical college dorm on March 29. • TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY Dhaka 34 27 Chittagong 30 27 Rajshahi 38 26 Rangpur 29 23 Khulna 38 27 Barisal 34 27 Sylhet 28 22 Cox’s Bazar 31 26 HEAVY RAIN LIKELY MONDAY, APRIL 24 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 6:24PM SUN RISES 5:29AM YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW 35.0ºC 19.6ºC Jessore Chandpur Source: Accuweather/UNB PRAYER TIMES Fajr: 5:00am | Zohr: 1:15pm Asr: 5:00pm | Magrib: 6:31pm Esha: 8:30pm Source: Islamic Foundation
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Page 3: Workplace safety in govt-inspected
Page 7 and 8: Prof Rezaul’s colleagues, student
Page 9 and 10: Furious Afghans call for resignatio
Page 11 and 12: NBR: Upcoming budget to be investme
Page 13 and 14: Opinion 13 DT MONDAY, APRIL 24, 201
Page 15 and 16: Stitched in woe Opinion 15 DT MONDA
Page 17 and 18: What’s on 17 MONDAY, APRIL 24, 20
Page 19 and 20: Sports 19 DT MONDAY, APRIL 24, 2017
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Page 23 and 24: Aynabaji on TV Showtime 23 MONDAY,

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