Health minister seeks cross-ministry action to achieve SDGs
Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain says achieving SDG 3 requires joint planning across health, water, education, social welfare and local government.
Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires coordinated planning and joint initiatives involving multiple ministries rather than relying solely on the Ministry of Health, Health Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain said today (11 August).
"Health services cannot be ensured through medicines alone. We must focus on prevention first," he said while speaking at a national conference on SDG implementation and review at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in Dhaka.
The minister said sectors including water, education and social welfare must work alongside the health sector to achieve SDG 3, which focuses on ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing for all.
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"Alongside education, law and order and reducing gender inequality, we need to bring sectors such as water, education and social welfare together with the health sector to achieve SDG Goal 3," he said.
Highlighting sanitation challenges in rural areas, Sardar Sakhawat stressed the need to ensure access to safe water and raise public awareness about disease prevention.
"We need to ensure safe water and make people aware of disease prevention. After touching dirty surfaces in markets and elsewhere, people often continue transactions using the same hands and money. We need to change these unhealthy habits and lifestyles," he said.
The minister urged the Planning Commission to develop an integrated plan involving all relevant ministries rather than placing responsibility solely on the health ministry.
"SDGs cannot be achieved by placing the responsibility solely on the Ministry of Health. An integrated plan involving the ministries of water, home affairs, social welfare and local government, among others, needs to be developed," he said.
He proposed that the relevant ministries meet at least once every two months to jointly implement the plan.
"SDG targets can only be achieved through a joint working approach and implementation by all ministries, not through isolated initiatives," he said.
The conference was chaired by Professor Mostafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
Water Resources Minister Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anee attended as a special guest, while reserved women's seat lawmaker Anna Minj was the guest of honour.
