USAID's Response: Population & Health

Improving Quality of Life for the Poor
USAID focuses on improving family health and reducing fertility. Since 1997, USAID has funded a group of 35 local non-governmental and other organizations (NGOs) to deliver essential health services. Services are approved by the Government of Bangladesh. They are concentrated in areas with little or no health care. It is a nine-year program for $333 million.

The program provides clinic-based, fee-for-service, one-stop health services for the entire family. (To read more about these partnerships, click here. Adobe PDF) In 2005, the program included 317 full-time community clinics, more than 8,000 associated satellite clinic sites, and nearly 7,000 rural community volunteers. It serves approximately 22 million people.

The program aims to:

• reduce fertility through informed choice of contraceptive methods;
• save the lives of children through immunization and the early identification and treatment of respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases;
• save the lives of mothers through prenatal and postnatal care and tetanus immunization;
• provide other reproductive health care to men, women and adolescents; and
• provide health information related to all of these health concerns.

To reach these objectives, USAID concentrates on improving service quality at clinic sites and on strengthening the skills of local NGOs. Currently, USAID is working with the Government on a policy to increase the provision of health services by NGOs. These NGOs will serve as models for expanding private basic health services with government and other donor financing.

Combating Maternal Mortality
To learn more about the current issues, USAID supported a survey, which estimated that 320 women die from pregnancy-related complications for every 100,000 live births. This was an important milestone since no reliable maternal mortality data existed previously. Trained staff are now performing safe delivery services and providing post-abortion care in 12 urban NGO clinics.

USAID's Health Programs Benefit All Bangladeshis
Social marketing provides easy access to contraceptives, oral rehydration salts, and other health supplies at thousands of non-clinical, commercial outlets across the country. The program uses mass media to encourage people to visit clinics, breast feed their babies and give their children Vitamin A.

USAID assists the health ministry in creating better and less expensive systems for purchasing health and family planning supplies. The goal is to improve the distribution to the public. USAID funding and technical assistance are helping revitalize Bangladesh's clinical contraception program, including voluntary surgical contraception. USAID also supports clinical training and curriculum development for the Government's health and family planning program.

Immunization is a Vital Component
Immunization is a vital part of basic health care, particularly for children and women. USAID supports Bangladesh's National Polio Immunization Days and Vitamin A supplementation campaigns. Through the World Health Organization, USAID supports polio officers who track polio trends in order to eradicate it. To read a polio success story, click here.

Reducing the Risk of HIV/AIDS
To slow the spread of HIV/AIDS, USAID promotes 100% condom use for every sexual act and encourages people infected with sexually transmitted infections to seek treatment. The focus is on people with high-risk behaviors. To read more about USAID's work to stem an HIV/AIDS epidemic in Bangladesh, click here.

Additionally, USAID works with adolescents on reproductive health issues. These activities focus on HIV prevention, delayed marriage and pregnancy. To reach as many youth as possible, USAID uses mass media campaigns, including a toolkit with booklets, complementary videos, facilitator guides, and comic books. There is also a weekly radio program and television series. To read more about USAID's work to teach youth about reproductive health, click here.(pdf - 122kb)

Collecting Data to Plan and Respond to Emergencies
USAID supports research into Bangladeshi’s disease and nutritional status. The information gathered improves the Government’s ability to plan for and react to disease-related emergencies and natural disasters. USAID also funds the triennial Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, which provides timely, reliable data on the status of health and population issues in Bangladesh.

Other applied research under the program is geared towards finding and testing better and lower cost ways to improve the health care available to poor Bangladeshis.