(BSS) - Prime Minister Tarique Rahman today said the government has various programmes from the grassroots to the national level on increasing public awareness on family and public health.

"The government has various activities to increase public awareness on family and public health," he said while replying to a starred question from treasury bench lawmaker from Moulvibazar-2 constituency Md Showkatul Islam in the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) here.

Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad, Bir Bikram, was in the chair.

The Leader of the House said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has been undertaking various timely awareness programmes from the grassroots level to the national level to raise awareness on health and family planning services, improvement of maternal and child health, and protection of public health.

He said different hospitals, health service centers, union health and family welfare centers, maternal and child welfare centers and community clinics have been giving various services, including health care, family planning, maternal and child health services, antenatal care, safe institutional delivery, postnatal care, and nutrition services, across the country.

In addition, through satellite clinics, school health education programmes, family conferences, counseling, and mass media campaigns, the premier said, awareness is created and people are encouraged on issues such as adolescent care, prevention of child marriage, avoiding childbirth before the age of 20, maintaining a gap of 2-3 years between children, and preventing violence against women.

Besides, communicable and non-communicable diseases control programmes, public health education, telemedicine services, health information portals, and seasonal disease prevention activities are also being carried out, he added.

Tarique Rahman said under the Local Government Division, tubewells, installed by the Department of Public Health Engineering, are marked with red color if contaminated with arsenic and green color if arsenic-free to encourage the people to use them for drinking and other purposes.

Along with safe water supply plans through development projects, he said various programme like workshops and courtyard meetings are being undertaken in municipalities to ensure sustainable use of water and sanitation and to create awareness.

National Sanitation Month in October, Global Handwashing Day on October 15, and World Water Day on March 22 are observed every year to encourage the people to follow hygiene practices, the Prime Minister said.

Besides, public awareness is also being increased on maintaining hygiene at the household level, using sanitary latrines, and regularly cleaning septic tanks, Tarique Rahman added.