It has been observed that the productivity of the workers in garments factories increases by 13 per cent if investment is made on their reproductive health. This information was revealed in a report of a research that was conducted for a year by private development firm Phulki, on leading garments factories located in Dhaka, Narawanganj and Gazipur. It has come out quite clearly from the study calculation of return on investment indicates that for each Taka spent for the intervention the factory stands to gain up to about Tk 13.3 in productivity gains. After the report was published some workers and factory owners shared their experience. Antata Garments Limited’s Associate Director Sarah Nafisa Kakoli said that after the programme for awareness of reproductive health was started, the rate of absence in her factory reduced by 95 per cent. Similar comments were made by representatives of DBL Group and Giant Group, says a press release. Funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN, the project “Nirapod” through saving unwanted pregnancy and unsafe menstrual regulation Nirapad project–Phulki has already successfully reached 90 thousand workers creating awareness about sexual reproductive health issues and importance of menstrual hygiene, it added. Although Bangladesh has made significant achievements in some sectors of health care, the maternal mortality rate (MMR) remains high at 194 deaths per 100,000 births. The high MMR means there are about 8,000 to 10,000 women dying from pregnancy, unsafe abortion or childbirth complications every year, the statement said. In Bangladesh, most of the poor and vulnerable women lack access to, and awareness of, SRH services, including family planning and safe menstrual regulation (MR), safe pregnancy, pregnancy spacing, personal hygiene, antenatal care, safe delivery and neonatal/postnatal care due to financial, cultural or geographical barriers.
