See & Treat, Bangladesh

SLOPB

In the urban areas of Bangladesh the government has implemented a cervical cancer prevention program however in the rural, cyclone ravaged southern regions of the country, many women don’t have access to healthcare. Our development partner SLOPB has a strong local network and a close cooperation with the local imam, teachers, doctors and police. This offers a solid base to reach the community with our See & Treat program. In 2013 we started a 5-year partnership with the Mother & Child Clinic, offering preventive screening and treatment with a small team. The more remote communities will be serviced with a mobile clinic. This is how we work on a service that compliments the governmental programs and assists in lowering the unnecessary deaths of women around the country.

Friendship

The partnerships with the floating hospitals of the Friendship Foundation is a great success. With the existing infrastructure, the individual islands in the Northern, flood-vulnerable, regions of Bangladesh can be reached. On small islands, the so-called “chars”, a community of people reside, which are often forgotten. These communities rarely have access to healthcare and it is the mission of the heathworkers of the Friendship Foundation – who are trained by FCF – to offer support, information and screening to this vulnerable group of women. In August 2015 the financing of Cordaid has come to an end and together we are working hard to find new financing options to ensure the continued care.

A lot has already been achieved: women and more importantly, men, are getting used to the offered preventive care and the precarious subject. The government has changed its policies this year so the ‘low-resource’ regions will have access to the easiest and cheapest method of screening and have educated a large group healthcare workers to assist. All of this to make sure that also these women can receive the treatment they need and deserve so the life on the chars improve for them, their family and their community.