Bangladesh

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Bangladesh faces many challenges: malnutrition, limited access to medical treatment and hygiene are a reality. Natural disasters regularly strike the country. Our teams improve the health of children and their mothers. We strengthen community and government actors to provide access to quality healthcare. We also support children to avoid hazardous exploitative labour. In the makeshift camps, Rohingya refugees are supported with emergency aid.

What we do

Mother and child health

Tdh fights malnutrition in collaboration with local actors by improving existing facilities and ensuring the quality of maternal and child healthcare in selected areas. Our teams organise awareness campaigns, seminars, discussion groups and cooking demonstrations. We strengthen the capacity of midwives and health workers to make sustainable improvements to the quality of care provided at birth. We also improve linkages between the health services providers and the community members to increase pre-and post-natal consultations.

Child Protection

Tdh works with early married girls to realise their potential and to claim their rights. We improve their access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, nutrition, basic and vocational education as well as livelihood opportunities. We sensitise communities on the topic of sexual and reproductive health, education and reduced gender-based violence. Tdh also tackles key drivers of modern slavery and the worst forms of child labour in Dhaka slums. As part of a consortium, we are implementing a 4-year research in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal that develops innovative and context-appropriate ways for children to avoid exploitative labour.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Frequent flooding and poor hygiene practices increase the chances of disease spreading. Our teams work with communities and organisations to implement sanitation systems and improve access to drinking water and toilets in households, schools and healthcare facilities. We train communities and sensitise policy makers about the importance of hygienic practices to prevent the spread of disease and of scaling up services through a national strategy. We also help the local population to better respond to recurring floods in the monsoon season by implementing disaster risk reduction.

Rohingya emergency

More than 745,000 Rohingya refugees have fled from Myanmar since August 2017 and are now in camps in Bangladesh. In Cox's Bazar, the needs of the refugee families are enormous. Tdh provides services of primary healthcare for the most vulnerable people and fights against malnutrition. We distribute hygiene supplies, construct latrines and wells, and treat the water to make it drinkable. In order to give a comprehensive response to the needs of the Rohingya children, we aid the most vulnerable with psychosocial support and individual help.

Key projects

Blue Schools

Blue Schools support education authorities and teachers to include environmental education and safe water and sanitation in schools.

SIMESON

Through the Tdh’s SIMESON project (Simulation of Essential Skills in Obstetrical and Neonatal care), we train midwifes and health workers in rural areas of Mali, Nepal and Bangladesh to make sustainable improvements to the quality of care provided at birth.