JPGSPH's webinar on 'Covid-19 and Youth Initiative'
BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health (JPGSPH), BRAC University organized a Webinar titled “COVID-19 and Youth Initiatives" on International Youth Day, August 12, 2020, a press release said.
As the youth make up a significant number of the population in Bangladesh, the webinar was organized to promote and discuss different initiatives taken by the youth across the country, during COVID-19, which greatly assisted the country in the fight against the pandemic.
The panellists in the Webinar included Sarah Kamal, 2020 National President, Junior Chamber International (JCI) Bangladesh who spoke about the initiatives taken by JCI Bangladesh during COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh; Tawhida Shiropa, Founder and CEO Moner Bondhu who spoke about the mental health of the youth during COVID-19 and the initiatives taken by Moner Bondhu; Sharnila Nuzhat Kabir, Youth Activist, who has been working for the marginalized society by providing food relief for the transgender and hijra communities, and also among sex workers in Daulatdia; and Md. Sadequl Arefeen, Co-founder of The Earth Society, whose organization partnered together to build ‘Crack Platoon Transport’ which provided free transport services to the health care providers during the countrywide COVID-19 lockdown.
During the discussion, Sharnila Nuzhat Kabir mentioned that, “There are many organizations in our community but not many work with the stigmatized and marginalized people. Every organization should think about the stigmatized, marginalized people.”
Sadequl Arefeen, the co-founder of the Earth Society, mentioned that, “Everyone says the youth are the future but in the context of Bangladesh, the youth are the present. The youth have to come forward to make a change.”
The perspective of the panelists revealed how capable the youth of this country are and how eager they are to assist during the COVID-19 crisis. The Webinar concluded with the panellists all looking forward to collaborating and working together so that the youth can play a bigger role during the COVID-19 pandemic and for the future.
