By Jenny Da Rin, Assistant Director General, Education and Health, AusAID

On a recent trip to Bangladesh I had the opportunity to visit a health clinic to see how the health of women, children and babies in a poor village was improving with Australian aid. The clinic we visited is in a village in Sreepur, a hot, bumpy and frankly scary two-hour drive out of Dhaka.

Upon arriving in Sreepur, we were greeted by the entire village and formally welcomed by a village elder who proudly told us that he had provided the land for the clinic and the community had contributed to its construction. He offered the land because he wanted to find a way to improve the health of his community and saw that a clinic could achieve that. BRAC, a Bangladeshi non-government organisation and UNICEF support the operation of clinics like this one, together with the Ministry of Health. Australia is contributing by providing maternal, neonatal and child health care in several low performing districts through BRAC and UNICEF. Around 50,000 community health workers and volunteers are trained and sent to support women during pregnancy and childbirth, and newborn care.

Young mothers in Sreepur learn what vaccinations their babies need, when and why vaccination is important. Photo: Jenny Da Rin / AusAID

The clinic in Sreepur is a really good example of how a poor community in a developing country benefits from our help. The clinic provides a range of services to several villages that include health checks and information on issues like nutrition, hygiene, family planning and vaccinations. A doctor from the nearest hospital visits regularly to check on pregnant women and assists in delivering babies. The doctor can deal with more serious medical conditions or can refer cases to hospital when necessary. It’s a routine we are familiar with and expect in Australia, but in a country where the health system hasn’t always worked and where maternal and child deaths have been very high, this clinic is a remarkable achievement.

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