Meeting Minutes
5th Organizing Committee Meeting of
International Conference on Urban Health 2015
Venue: Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban,
University of Dhaka
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Agenda 1 Discussion on the progress of ICUH till date
Agenda 2 Discussion on the UN Side Event on Urban Health
Agenda 3 Discussion on the different sub committees of the conference
Agenda 4 Discussion on Venue and Sponsorship
Date: 19 August 2014
Time: 3:30 pm
Introduction:
The 5th Meeting of the Organizing Committee for the ICUH was held on 19th August at 3.30 PM at Dhaka
University Senate Hall . It was attended by the members of the Committee, The list is attached herewith.
Dr. Shamim Hayder Takukder , President of the Eminence greeted all participants of the organizing committee
and gave a brief introduction to distinguished Guests , specially Prof. Jo Ivey Boufford and Prof. Anthony Capon and
Negash Teklu, who kindly arrived Dhaka to attend the meeting from the International Society of Urban Health
(ISUH),. He also pointed out that the Guests already met with Senior Secretary of Local Government Division Mr
Monzur Hussain and also Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare ,Mr Neaz Ahmed . They came
to promote the platform of this International Conference on Urban Health that takes place every year in different
countries to impress upon its importance to the Government and Civil Society Organizations of Bangladesh.
Mr. Talukder also introduced Dr. Dhiraj Kumar Nath and Prof. Shah Monir Hossain as the Chairperson and CoChairperson of the Organizing Committee with the distinguished guests. Thereafter, he requested Mr. Nath to
moderate the meeting.
Mr. Nath asked all the participants to give their introduction as members of the Committee and thereafter opened the
floor for discussion on specific agenda.
2. Discussion on the progress of ICUH till date
Dr. Selmin Jahan, AD of Eminence made a presentation on the progress of preparation done so far for organizing the
International Conference on Urban Health 2015 in Bangladesh. After the presentation Mr. Dhiraj also added saying
the meeting held at the Ministry of Local Government Rural Development and Cooperative was very important
landmark because that led the support of the government to this major event of our country.
Prof. Jo Ivey Boufford, M D , President of The New York Academy of Medicine emphasized that the International
Conference on Urban Health 2015 is the first global meeting in Asia. She also stressed stating that urban health
should be very importantly included in the Post 2015 agenda and address the challenges happening across the
world. Prof. Jo Ivey also congratulated Dr. Talukder for being elected as President of the International Society of
Urban Health (ISUH) and mentioned of his enormous experience and connections that will benefit the conference in
this region. Prof. Anthony Capon, Director of United Nations University, also appreciated the government involvement
to this venture. He was very impressed with the level of commitment and engagement by relevant ministries for this
conference.
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3. Discussion on the UN Side Event on Urban Health
Dr. Talukder shared with everyone that the upcoming side event will be organized in partnership with New York
Academy of Medicine (NYAM) and ISUH and will be hosted by NYAM. He further added that in the side event on
Urban Health during the UNGA, a delegation team from Bangladesh Government will also attend the event. There is
a high possibility that Honorable Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs might attend the meeting.
At this stage, Prof. Shah Monir Hussain, Co-Chair said this event will give as an opportunity to attract more people
from abroad for our conference of 2015. Dr. Boufford said the International Society for Urban Health will reach out to
more international professionals to be a part of the side event to promote urban health in the Post 2015 development
framework. Everyone expected a remarkable outcome of the Side Event on Urban Health.
4. Discussion on the different sub committees of the conference
In this section Prof. Shah Monir Hossain gave a brief on the formed committees and sub committees of the
conference. Prof. Monir said scientific committee has already been formed and they are working on the selection of
panelists for the sessions and the procedure of abstract submission. Prof. Monir also shared; in the previous meeting
registration fee for the international and national participant was decided. Now Resource Mobilization for the
conference is very important because without resource we cannot step forward. Prof. Monir said for international
funding we need help from the international partners and for local funding we are discussing with donors and other
potential donor organizations. Prof. Monir also said that a budget has already been prepared and the resource
mobilization committee is really working hard for mobilizing resources. Dr. Halida H. Akhter, Co –Chair of the
Committee observed that the Resource Committee committed to support the scientific sessions including inviting
international speakers.
5. Discussion on Venue and Sponsorship
Mr. Shiril Sarcar of NHSDP stated that there is significant progress through USAID for advance payment to initially
book the venue for the conference at BICC . Mr. Nath in this regard emphasized on the importance of fixing a time
frame for the payment and thus requested NHSDP to expedite actions for the payment. In time so that Venue
selection does not come out as crisis at the last leg.. At this stage, , Dr. Shamim Talukder stated that he had some
discussions with the BICC management who in fact,, agreed to allow sometimes . Dr. Halida ensured that they are
trying to expedite the process and expecting an outcome favorable to make the payment for the venue booking.
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6. Miscellaneous
The Chair requested all participants to raise any issue they consider pertinent for the grand success of the
Conference since it was a short meeting to apprise the visiting team for ICUH. However, it was further emphasized to
convene another meeting of the Resource Committee quickly to confirm the availability of resources and plan the
program accordingly.
At this stage, Chairperson has concluded the meeting expressing heartfelt thanks to all participants in spite of
inclement weather and traffic congestion throughout the city.
7. List of Participants
1. Mr. Dhiraj Kumar Nath, ADB
2. Prof. Shah Monir Hossain, FAO-UN
3.
Dr. Halida H Akhter, CEO NHSDP
4. Dr. Shamim Hayder Talukder, President, Eminence
5. Prof. Jo Ivey Boufford, President , The New York Academy of Medicine
6. Prof. Anthony Capon, Director United Nations University (UNU-IIGH), International Institute of Global Health
7. Mr Negash Teklu , Executive Director , PHE Ethiopia Consortium
8. Dr. Syed Emdadul Haque, United Nations University UNU-IIGH, International Institute of Global Health
9. Ms. Shehzeen Choudhury, VOA
10. Dr. Taposh Roy, BRAC
11. Dr. Md. Mizanur Rahman, Shimantic
12. Dr. SM. Mohiuddin Kamal, Radda Barneen
13. Mr. Shiril Sarcar, NHSDP
14. Ms. Sharmina Sultana, USAID
15. Dr Rafikul Sultan , T O, UNFPA
16. Mr. Zahirul Islam, Embassy of Sweden
17. Dr. Nilufar Banu, BUP
18. Mr. Bidhan Krishna Sarker, ICDDRB
19. Md. Golam Mustafa, IDEB/ BCSNPN
20. Md. Rafiqul Islam, Swarnirvar Bangladesh
21. Md. Matiar Rahman, DSK
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