Canadian Minister of International Development and La Francophonie Marie-Claude Bibea has announced a $35 million initiative to improve awareness of and access to sexual and reproductive health and rights for 1.75 million women and girls in Bangladesh.
The five-year project will also provide expectant mothers, newborns and children with essential health services and is expected to save more than 15,500 lives.
Canada also continues to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance to hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas, mainly women and children, who have fled to Bangladesh to escape violence in Myanmar, reports UNB.
So far in 2017, Canada has committed over $25 million in humanitarian assistance in Bangladesh and Myanmar, said the Canadian High Commission in Dhaka on Friday.
"Canada is proud to support the Government of Bangladesh in its efforts to improve maternal, sexual and reproductive health," said the Canadian Minister.
Empowering 1.75 million women and girls by providing them with information that can transform their lives is no small feat.
"It is ultimately this kind of initiative that will change our world for the better.
Canada shares with Bangladesh over 40 years of cooperation, which has brought real development benefits to the country and lifted millions out of poverty," said Minister Bibeau.
"We will continue to build on this partnership in addition to helping Bangladesh and refugee host communities cope with the ongoing Rohingya refugee crisis."
While visiting refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, the Minister met with survivors of gender-based violence, unaccompanied children and new mothers-all of whom are benefiting from Canada's assistance.
She also engaged with key humanitarian and civil society actors to identify how Canada and the international community can better coordinate their efforts.
In Dhaka, Minister Bibeau met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to discuss her government's efforts to address the Rohingya crisis and longer-term development needs, particularly as they relate to the empowerment of women and girls in Bangladesh.