Images of Dhaka Captured in Photo Blog

The Guardian recently featured a Dhaka resident in their Blogger of the Week series, a retired government worker who shares photographs of his hometown in his blog, Dhaka Daily Photo.  Ershad Ahmed started his photo blog 8 years ago, and in the article, gives a local’s insight into the evolution of Dhaka and life in the bustling city.

The myriad of images showcases many features of Dhaka living, such as urban growth, marketplace settings and interestingly enough, rickshaw traffic congestion, a mode of transport that the blogger claims is the best way to travel in the city.

Through photos, Ahmed describes Dhaka as, “…uncontrolled and unplanned urban sprawl”, but is also eager to talk about his favourite spots in the city and his optimism for the city’s future.  His vibrant pictures and knowledge of Dhaka’s history illustrate his praise and his hopes for improvement for the nation’s capital.

For the article, please click here.

Scaling Up: Creating On-Line Resources for Nurse Educators

Over the past decade, the Bangladesh Health Project has built a four year BScN program from the ground up. We have celebrated our first graduates’ registration and they are working in leadership roles in Bangladesh and Nepal, or studying abroad. So, now we are looking ahead to an even greater impact on population health by “training the trainers”.

To this end, we are scaling up the IUBAT BScN curriculum as an Online Educational Resource [OER] for nurse educators in similar settings. Our vision is to provide the complete BScN curriculum on-line, including classroom lectures, references and learning resources, assignments and exams, checklists for clinical practice, and administrative policies.

The overall goal remains the same: “To develop nursing leaders who can contribute significantly to improve population health”. We are actively seeking funding for this new OER project. We also plan to create an advisory group or “community of practice” – nurse educators from various settings who will ensure the OER remains current, relevant, and appropriately adapted for low-resource settings.

We hope you will join us in cultivating this new resource. If you are interested in details or would like to participate, please read our project summary.

Advancing Nurse Education in Bangladesh

In March 2014, IUBAT released a research monograph entitled Advancing Nurse Education in Bangladesh, which arose from research through the Bangladesh Health Project and collaborating universities and organizations, namely, IUBAT, Simon Fraser University and Mid-Main Community Health Centre in Vancouver, Canada.  The monograph focuses on the critical obstacle with providing better nurse education in Bangladesh – the shortage of qualified nurse educators.  It summarizes the current situation for education of nurses, introduces potential solutions from other countries and suggests a made-in-Bangladesh strategy.

This report, presented by Professor Alex Berland, follows the experience of the Bangladesh Health Project, as well as discussions with dozens of nurse educators, physicians and hospital managers.

Three initial steps proposed in the monograph to strengthen nurse education in Bangladesh:

1. To build a leadership coalition and a guiding strategy for nursing resource development.

2. To create a country-wide collaborative effort to advance nurse education.

3. To develop system supports to promote higher standards in nursing education and practice.

The monograph focuses on one aspect of strengthening nurses’ contributions, namely the education of nurses. A strong policy platform for developing the nurse education system could release nurses’ capacity as caregivers, advocates and client educators.

To read Advancing Nurse Education in Bangladesh, please click here.