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Providing Healthcare in Rural, Poverty-Stricken Bangladesh

Vital Stats

Nabiha I

people helped100
People Doing It 10

The Problem

In rural areas of Bangladesh the lack of basic education takes a dire toll on the quality of life for women and children. The literacy rate in Pabna (the village I aim to serve) is less than 30%. Over 90% of Bangladeshi women deliver at home in unsanitary conditions without the help of medically trained assistants. This is one of the main contributors to the high infant mortality rate across the country. Almost 70% of legally blind children suffer from preventable causes of blindness. Bangladesh is a country of great beauty but also of severe, heart wrenching poverty. One of the gravest results of that poverty is a lack of basic health education and access to healthcare. This is unacceptable. Healthcare and education are universal human rights.

Plan of Action

I knew my dad owned a a few acres of land in Pabna, Bangladesh. I asked for his permission to use it to build a medical clinic and he obliged. I then spent several months in meetings and forming contacts with international NGO's to find one that would help me build this clinic. I am now a Special Project Sponsor for the Hope Foundation for Women and Children of Bangladesh, which means I oversee all logistics involved in running and constructing this medical clinic. I also have full responsibility for raising funds. I have organized a charity dinner/silent auction at my university and several other smaller fundraisers to begin this upcoming school year. I have also applied for several grants. I am also organizing and seeking funding to hold women's health seminars to teach preventative and maternal health practices in four areas of rural Pabna. This will help spread word of the medical center I hope to build in Pabna and simultaneously help educate a severely underprivileged population.