Celebrities take part in a programme at Rupashi Bangla Hotel in the capital on Saturday, joining their hands in a campaign for child and maternal health promotion. — New Age photo

Celebrities on Saturday joined hands with the United States Agency for International Development, pledging promotion of maternal and child health in Bangladesh where more than 7,000 mothers die every year while giving birth and 185,500 children cannot celebrate their fifth birthday.
Television actress Shomi Kaiser, popular singer Samina Chowdhury, Bangladesh cricket captain Mohammad Mushfiqur Rahim and senior broadcast journalist Shahnaz Munni made their commitment on the second day of the ongoing Asia regional meeting on maternal and newborn care. 
USAID’s flagship Maternal and Child Health Integrated Programme organised the four-day meeting beginning on Friday where leading experts from over 20 countries are attending.
USAID director from the office of population, health and nutrition Khadijat L Mojidi introduced the brand ambassadors while a community health worker of MaMoni project in Sylhet Lipi Rani Dev pinned the ribbon ‘I help’ to the ambassadors.
A trained worker, Lipi, has saved several mothers and newborns live through her initiatives in her locality Jaintapur.
Expressing her views, Samina said she was happy to be with the initiative for reducing maternal and newborn death.
Recalling her eight years’ shocking memory of losing her newborn, Samina said, ‘When a baby dies, a part of that mother dies too and she has to live with that loss.’
Shahnaz expressed her gratitude as she said it was her ‘long time passion’ to work for mothers and children.
Shomi said she would consider her efforts worthy if it even saved a single life.
Mushfiqur Rahim could not attend the ceremony, but made his commitment to work for the cause of mothers and children in a video record shown at the function.
Meanwhile, participants in the first day’s meeting discussed pre-eclampsia, a problem of high blood pressure in pregnancy, and eclampsia, its resulting seizures.