CAPGAN Congress Ends
Call to step up preventive measures against diarrhoea
Staff Correspondent
The 8th Congress of Common-wealth Association of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition (CAPGAN) ended in Dhaka yesterday with a call to step up preventive measures against diarrhoea, malnutrition and pneumonia, which are major causes of child mortality in developing countries like Bangladesh.The ICDDR,B hosted the three-day congress attended by about 500 delegates, including 100 scientists. The theme of the congress was 'Combating Malnutrition and Intestinal Diseases in Children: Are We Doing Enough?' The congress stressed the need for ensuring safe drinking water, breastfeeding and complementary feeding of infants and proper management of severe malnutrition to curb child mortality globally, said Prof Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta, newly elected president of CAPGAN, at a press briefing at the ICDDR,B office in the city yesterday. Prof Bhutta, a professor of Aga Khan University, Pakistan, said the delegates have made a lot of suggestions to prevent diarrhoea and malnutrition among children. Prof Bhupider Sandhu, who will be the next president of CAPGAN after three years, said babies are born underweight due to malnutrition and if these babies survive, they face severe problems, including heart disease and diabetes, when they grow up. Prof Edmund Anthony Nelson, immediate past president of CAPGAN, Dr Tahmeed Ahmed, head of nutrition programme, ICDDR,B, and Dr Ishtiaque A Zaman, head of external relations and institutional development of ICDDR,B, were also present.
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