Population Council | Asia

ASIA
Bangladesh

The Population Council’s involvement in Bangladesh began in the mid-1960s with resident technical advisors located at the Academy of Rural Development and later at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. The Council set up a country office in Dhaka in 1990, initially as a base for implementing a Ford Foundation–funded project on child survival and later to conduct activities under the USAID-funded operations research and technical assistance program. Currently, Council activities are being funded through diverse donors including USAID, the Canadian International Development Agency, and Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Program Focus

In Bangladesh, the Population Council carries out a combination of activities, including research, technical assistance, and capacity strengthening. From the outset, Council staff in Bangladesh have designed and implemented family planning and reproductive health programs. Currently, the Council is assisting the Government of Bangladesh in several activities that support the health-related Millennium Development Goals. Current research activities focus on improving the quality of, access to, and appropriate use of reproductive health services by both men and women; introducing a "safety-net" mechanism for poor women to help them utilize reproductive health services; preventing HIV infection; meeting the needs of young people; and improving maternal and neonatal health. These activities respond to some of the most pressing social and health issues in Bangladesh, while maintaining links with the Council’s overall strategic direction. Another key objective of Council’s presence in Bangladesh is to strengthen the ability of the public, NGOs, and the private sector to implement tested interventions and to enhance program performance and policy formulation.

Highlights of Past and Present Work

Contributed to government initiatives to introduce a "safety-net" mechanism for poor pregnant women.
Provided the evidence base and technical assistance for introducing emergency contraception into Bangladesh's national family planning program.
Developed a curriculum for adolescents used by NGOs and UN agencies to design their reproductive health and HIV/AIDS training curriculums.
Provided technical assistance to the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, the largest Bangladeshi NGO, to conduct the first national survey to provide comprehensive data on adolescents.
Provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Youth and Sports to introduce a reproductive health curriculum into its vocational training courses.
Played a leading role in introducing the concept of male involvement in reproductive health.
Pioneers work to ensure the availability of health and family planning services in low-performing and hard-to-reach areas.

Selected Projects

Current

Demand-based Reproductive Health Commodity Project (8/05–6/09)
FRONTIERS projects
- Care and Support Services Provided to Rape Survivors at First Point of Contact in India and Bangladesh (9/07–3/08)
- Community-based Kangaroo Mother Care to Prevent Neonatal and Infant Mortality (11/04–3/08)

Completed

Improving Access to Reproductive Health Information and Condom Services for Male Youth (completed 2/06)
Review of Selected Service Delivery Models to Reduce Maternal Mortality and Improve Neonatal and Child Health (completed 8/06)
Implementation of a Baseline Survey, Research, Rapid Assessment, and Pilot HIV/AIDS Activities with Youth and Adolescents (completed 3/06)
Linkage Between Population and Development: Research on Reproductive Health and Poverty at the Community Level (completed 12/05)
Health-sector Reform: Trends and Lessons Learned in Developing Countries (completed 3/05)
FRONTIERS projects
- Financial Sustainability of Rampura and Bashabo Clinics (completed 4/07)
- Scaling Up Emergency Contraceptive Pills to the National Level in Bangladesh (completed 2/07)
- Scaling Up Reproductive Health Services for Men in Bangladesh (completed 1/07)
- Increasing Use of Dual Protection by Rickshaw Pullers in Bangladesh (completed 6/06)
- Introducing an Adolescent Reproductive Health Curriculum in Vocational Training Courses (completed 9/05)
- Developing Regional Capacity in Operations Research (OR) and Economic Evaluation in South Asia (completed 3/05)
- Integration of Reproductive Health Services for Men in Family Welfare Centers in Bangladesh (completed 6/03)
- Improving Adolescent Reproductive Health in Bangladesh (completed 5/03)
- Introducing Emergency Contraception (EC) in Bangladesh (completed 5/03)
- The Impact of Quality of Care Upon Contraceptive Use: Evidence from Longitudinal Data from Rural Bangladesh (completed 12/02)
- From the Home to the Clinic: A New Reproductive Health Service Delivery Model for Bangladesh (completed 11/00)