Tackling non-communicable disease

Farm-workers take a break from harvesting for a blood sugar check

In Bangladesh over 10 million adults live with diabetes and this number continues to rise. In rural areas it is difficult to deliver screening programs due to shortage of health care providers and outreach is often non-existent. Rabiul Islam, head of Oasis for Posterity recently sent photos from the weekly paramedic program offered by the OfP Healthcare Centre.

OfP volunteers are also learning how to use a glucometer

A trained paramedic, supported by BHP, provides blood glucose tests and prevention advice for Balagram community members in their homes and workplaces. She also trains OfP volunteers who can offer basic follow-up care at the chronic illness drop-in clinic held in OfP’s vocational college nearby.

Outreach services improve access to services for working people

Evidence-based reforms in nursing

In a recent paper, A call for evidence-based reforms in nursing in Bangladesh, Akter and colleagues recommended several ways to strengthen the contributions of nurses. For example, pathways to enable nurses to become Nurse Practitioners could improve health-care access in rural settings. They also recommend recruiting more individuals with nursing education background to key administrative positions across clinical environments and in the Ministry of Health. They conclude, “An evidence-based reform that involves nurses in all professional decision-making processes around healthcare would result in a supportive environment that empowers nurses in Bangladesh, ultimately yielding better quality patient care.”

“One of the most dangerous things a woman can do in much of the world is become pregnant”

This opening sentence by Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times introduces the topic of obstetric fistula, which affects over one million women worldwide: “Typically impoverished women in poor countries where home births are the norm, who couldn’t get to a doctor in time … [suffer from] childbirth injuries that can be as damaging psychologically as physically. Prevention will come about by improving emergency obstetric services, a path that will also reduce deaths in childbirth.” Kristof recommends supporting the Fistula Foundation, which has financed over 100,000 fistula repairs in more than 30 countries, at an average cost per surgery of just $619 USD.

2019 INR Bangladesh caesarean.pdf

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Dr. Nazmul Huda is a frequent collaborator with Bangladesh Health Project. He has taught in the IUBAT Nursing program and he spear-headed development of the IUBAT MPH program. In 2019, while he was country director for a program to reduce fistula, Nazmul along with BHP director Prof. John Richards and other experts wrote about high rates of C-section in Bangladesh and Pakistan (see below). In the right circumstances, C-section is vital; as a profitable short-cut it can be another source of childbirth injury.  Huda et al conclude, “Reducing caesarean rates requires government to strengthen health human resource development…. [However, due to] generally inadequate support for vaginal delivery either in facilities or in homes, families will increasingly choose a facility delivery, usually a caesarean, usually in a private clinic.” Unfortunately, as Huda et al predicted five years ago, c-section rates in Bangladesh have continued to rise.

Human resource development, especially in health professions, is the mission of BHP, enacted through most of our projects. Presently, the role of male family-members in childbirth planning is the research topic of IUBAT nursing faculty member, Mohammed Ali. Ali is now enrolled in studies at University of Oxford with support from our donors. BHP directors have mentored several IUBAT College of Nursing graduates. If you are interested in providing mentoring or financial support please contact us.