Customers of Padma Bank now have the option to independently open Fixed Deposits (FD) and Deposit Pension Schemes (DPS) using Padma Padma Wallet App.Customers do not have to struggle to visit any branch, nor do they need any physical forms, images, or papers to fill out. This process is entirely paperless and digital. A smart   Read More…»

The proposed national budget for FY 2023-24, if adopted, will once again render tobacco products cheaper than essential commodities. This will raise tobacco-related illness and deaths, deprive the government of the opportunity to earn additional revenue, and only benefit tobacco companies. Economists and anti-tobacco leaders have raised demand for introducing specific supplementary duty (SD) to   Read More…»

Bangladesh Parliamentary Forum for Health and Wellbeing has been bestowed with the esteemed ‘National Award for Tobacco Control 2023’ by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as a testament to the forum’s invaluable and commendable contributions towards the advancement of the tobacco control program in Bangladesh.  On Sunday (June 11, 2023) morning during a national program held   Read More…»

Legendary veteran journalist Ashok Ramsarup has been nominated for an international Unite Health Social Media on using information technology when the Covid-19 pandemic took the world by storm. Social media had become a beacon of hope while the world grappled with the disease. Ramsarup who just turned 70 retired from the SABC as a Senior   Read More…»

Members of Parliament thanked the Global Alliance for Vaccine Initiative (Gavi) for announcing the continuation of funding for the national immunization program until 2030 for the purpose of accelerating the vaccination program of Bangladesh and improving the country’s public health. Besides, the MPs expressed satisfaction over the increase in the price of cigarettes in the fiscal   Read More…»

The drug list update committee for community clinics has decided to include the medicines for hypertension and diabetes in the drug list of community clinics to ensure primary health care at the door steps of common people in rural areas. In a meeting of the said committee held on 14th May 2023, it was decided   Read More…»

The bilateral business between Bangladesh and Thailand should be increased as we have the ethnic historical and cultural ties of both the countries went back to years ago. Makawadee Sumitmor, Thai envoy to Bangladesh said in the Courtesy Call of newly elected board of directors of BTCCI with the Ambassador of Thailand to Bangladesh at the Royal Thai Embassy, Dhaka on Tuesday, May 30, 2023. BTCCI placed some important proposals to the Thai   Read More…»

Tomorrow (31 May 2023, Wednesday) is the World No Tobacco Day (WNTD). The theme of WNTD 2023 is “Grow Food, Not Tobacco” which aims at raising awareness about alternative crop production and marketing opportunities for existing tobacco farmers to encourage them into growing sustainable and nutritious crops. It will also aim to expose the tobacco   Read More…»

To promote the use of vape and e-cigarettes and to thwart the ongoing amendment of tobacco control law, Voice of Vapers (VoV) and Asia Harm Reduction Alliance recently organized a summit and roundtable in Dhaka on Saturday (27 May 2023). A number of grantees and representatives of the Foundation for Smoke-free World (FSFW), a front   Read More…»

Hundreds of youth leaders from the educational institutions in Chapai Nawabganj district gathered in the ‘Youth Leaders Conference, Chapai Nawabganj-2023’ to take a solemn oath to build a tobacco-free Bangladesh. The youth leaders called upon Dr. Samil Uddin Ahmed Shimul MP, representing Chapainawabganj-1 Constituency, to take proactive measures in tobacco control. The event was organized   Read More…»

With funds from multinational tobacco companies, a vested quarter is promoting e-cigarettes and vaping products in the name of research on smoking alternatives. Association for Community Empowerment (ACE) Bangladesh, UK-based Centre for Substance Use Research (CSUR), and Enam Medical College are promoting a so-called research protocol on tobacco harm reduction among Bangladeshi diabetic patients, a   Read More…»

By ASHOK RAMSARUP :: South Africa and Kenya have set the tone for an international clinical trial to evaluate much-needed new anti-biotic combinations for newborn babies with sepsis.  The pre-trials are underway in three public hospitals on the African continent.  The trial is sponsored by the Global Anti-biotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) in collaboration   Read More…»

By Ashok Ramsarup :: A total of 2 354 international runners from 84 countries have entered the prestigious 96th Comrades Marathon prestigious in South Africa.  The 87.701 kilometre-Comrades Marathon is a down run starting in Pietermaritzburg, the capital city of Kwazulu-Natal, and ends in the port city of Durban on the 11th of June. Comrades Marathon Association   Read More…»

The hypertension situation in Bangladesh is very alarming as one in every five adults in Bangladesh suffers from hypertension. Availability of hypertension medicines must be ensured at the community clinic level to make hypertension treatment accessible to the entire population of the country and necessary budget allocation also must be ensured in this regard. Speakers highlighted   Read More…»