BRAC Community Health Workers to Play a Key Role in Reducing Child Malnutrition in Bangladesh

Shainaz Begum, a mother of two sons and small scale farmer, smiles, her eyes lighting up as she points to a sign nailed high on the tree above her home in the village of Sharifbag, about an hour and a half drive from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. The letters, written in Bangla, the local language, say “Shastya Shebika,” meaning designated community health worker for the village.

Shainaz is one of 80,000 community health volunteers in 84,000 villages across Bangladesh employed by BRAC, a large grassroots non-governmental organization supported by GAIN, who receives training on hygiene, sanitation, family planning and other health issues. She has been a community health worker for twelve years. 

Like other BRAC community health volunteers she has a blue bag that contains basic medicines such as oral rehydration salts, iodized salt and antibiotics. In one month, Shahanaz tells GAIN that she visits an average of 300 households and earns an average of 2,500 taka per month (US$ 35) from the profit margins from the medicines she sells. She also advises families on health issues, for example ensuring people with tuberculosis follow their treatment or referring malnourished children to hospitals.

“In the area of malnutrition, anemia is a common health problem in the village,” she says. Upon learning about BRAC’s plan to add 2.25 taka (US$ 0.03) sachets of vitamin and mineral powder that complement breastfeeding and local foods to the bag of health products through GAIN support, she says she is confident mothers will find the product attractive. “The product is affordable and has health benefits like reducing anemia and keeping children healthy so mothers will be willing to buy it,” she asserts, as she pushes a strand of her hair back under her red flower-patterned headscarf.

Through GAIN support, Renata Limited, a pharmaceutical company based in Bangladesh, is manufacturing the multi-nutrient powders and partnering with BRAC to ensure the product reaches vulnerable families in remote rural areas. GAIN funding will also soon enable BRAC to train its community health workers like Shainaz in selling and marketing the product in their villages.

Forty seven percent of pre-school age children are anemic in Bangladesh. The GAIN-supported Renata-BRAC partnership aims to reduce iron deficiency anemia among an estimated seven million children aged 6 to 24 months old and improve their nutrition so they can lead healthy and productive lives. The dedication of community health workers such as Shainaz and the trust they have gained in their communities will help to achieve this goal.