Hasina seeks blessings for daughter Saima on birthday

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked everyone to pray for her daughter Saima Wazed Hossain on her birthday.

In a ceremony marking Rokeya Day on Thursday, Hasina made the request for Saima, who is known for her work on global child autism.

Born in 1973 in Dhaka, the granddaughter of Bangabandhu is on the National Advisory Committee for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders and is also a member of World Health Organization’s global Expert Advisory Panel on Mental Health.

“There was a time when parents kept their autistic or disabled children away from public eyes. The mothers of such children were harassed. There were cases where husbands divorced women over giving birth to such children,” Hasina said.

“Saima Wazed has brought about a major change, allowing parents to no longer have to hide autistic or disabled children. Rather, they now proudly speak about them.”

Saima, who is a licensed school psychologist in the United States, entered the field of autism and children’s nervous complications in 2008 and was acclaimed for her work within a short time.

In 2014, she received the ‘Excellence in Public Health’ award from the WHO for her contribution in the field in 11 Southeast Asian countries.

She received the ‘International Champion Award’ in 2017 from the New York-based School and Center for Children with Autism.

The daughter of nuclear scientist MA Wazed Miah, Saima also played the role of a thematic ambassador for the Climate Vulnerable Forum or CVF.

Saima achieved her honours degree in psychology in 1997 and master’s in clinical psychology in 2002 from Barry University in the US. She received a specialist degree in school psychology two years later.

At the university, she conducted a study on the development of Bangladeshi women. It was praised as the best scientific presentation by the Florida Academy of Science.

The efforts of Saima, who earned a place in the list of 100 Innovative Women Leaders in Global Mental Health published by Global Mental Health Programs Consortium in 2019, included organising an international conference on autism in Dhaka for the first time in 2011.

Saima played a chief role in the formulation of the country’s Neurodevelopment Disability Trust Act 2013. She is also the chairperson of Shuchona Foundation, which works on mental health issues.

She is a trustee and the vice-chairperson of Awami League’s research wing Centre for Research and Information or CRI.