The UNFPA with the assistance of IDB fund will set up the centre, said UNFPA Representative Suneeta Mukherjee at the 'South Asia conference for the prevention and treatment of obstetric fistula' in the city yesterday.

Inaugurating the three-day conference, Health Minister Dr Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said about 20 lakh women have been suffering from fistula and most of them are in the developing countries.

Although maternal mortality has declined in Bangladesh, but it is still one of the highest in the world, he said.

Experts from UNFPA headquarters, India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal and Ethiopia are taking part in the conference organised by UNFPA.

Presided over by AFM Sarwar Kamal, health secretary, the inaugural session was also addressed by Dr France Donnay from UNFPA headquarters in New York.