He said the media has also a crucial role to play to sensitise people across the country about reproductive health and HIV/AIDS issues.

The minister was speaking as chief guest at a workshop titled 'Reproductive health, gender issues and HIV/AIDS at the Press Institute of Bangladesh (PIB) in the city.

The sensitisation workshop for media personnel was organised

jointly by the Department of Mass Communication (DMC) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The information minister said the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the country still remains low than any other neighbouring countries due to strong adherence of the people to social and religious values.

Presiding over the workshop Abdul Mannan, director general of DMC, said the workshop has been organised under a project styled 'Advocacy on reproductive health and gender issues through DMC' to enrich the knowledge of journalists so that they can produce effective report and increase public awareness.

Pornchai Suchitta, UNFPA representative to Bangladesh, and Major General (Retd) Motiur Rahman, chairman of the Technical Committee on National AIDS Committee (NAC), also addressed the inaugural session.

Later speaking at the working session, experts reiterated the need for population control through family planning and the role of media in this connection.

Nurul Ameen, assistant country representative of UNFPA, said the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) in the country is 58 percent and women are found to conceive very frequently only for having son.

"Change of mindset is crucial for bringing change in human behaviour," he added.

Emphasising the role of mass media, Nikesh Amit, national programme officer of UNFPA, said change of behaviour takes place after several stages.

Mass media can play a supportive role along with interactive, interpersonal and group discussion, he added.

The speakers asked for advocating the women and youth as different studies show that among the victims of sexual diseases, 50 percent are women and 50 percent are youth aged between 12 and 24.

They also asked for involving religious leaders in advocacy programme to create public awareness.

They also expressed concern over the growing risk of AIDS as the country is surrounded by AIDS-affected neighbours and the number of drug addicts is increasing alarmingly.