Healthier Moms & Babies

Durga Sarker has been coming to her local Smiling Sun clinic near her residence since she became pregnant. She visits the clinic for all kinds of health services for both herself and for her daughter. She says that the Smiling Sun clinic is a "symbol of trust."

Every day, Yasmin Nahar visits about six households with her 11-month-old son Abdullah in the Jessore district of Bangladesh.

Yasmin works as a “community service promoter,” going door-to-door bringing essential health care items like oral rehydration salts, pain relievers and feminine napkins to households in the area. She also provides information on available health care services -- such as the dates when a satellite clinic will be set up nearby for child care, maternal health and postnatal consultations.

She is one of thousands of community service promoters across the country. Their work bringing easy-to-access health services and satellite clinics (usually a room in someone’s home that is used as a health service delivery point) to people’s doorsteps have changed women’s and children’s lives dramatically in this South Asian country.

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Since 1997, USAID’s Smiling Sun clinics have played a key role in improving the country's overall health care system. The clinics, supported by USAID and the U.K. Department for International Development, provide health care services to 26 million people -- 14 percent of the population -- in Bangladesh.