Community clinics have revolutionized the way primary health care is made available in rural and hard to reach areas in Bangladesh. With a total of 14 000 community clinics, people throughout the country can access health, family planning and nutrition services at their doorstep.
The event also marked the inauguration of e-learning materials for Community Health Care Providers (CHCP). Topics included rational use of drugs by CHCPs and breastfeeding and complimentary feeding for infant and young children. The e-learning materials are a result of WHO’s collaboration with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare to build the capacity of the CHCPs through self-learning under the Revitalization of Community Health Care Initiatives in Bangladesh (RCHCIB) project started in 2009.
WHO technically supported the government from the conceptualization of community clinics to their piloting up to nationwide project execution. In his speech, the WHO Representative Dr Paranietharan referred to the impressive achievements against health MDGS by Bangladesh, especially the child mortality goal ahead of the MDG target year of 2015: “This significant achievement can be associated with the effective services being delivered at community clinics.” Dr Paranietharan emphasized the need to continue working with the government to strengthen community clinics as a platform towards achieving universal health coverage and health goal under the forthcoming SDGs in Bangladesh.