Public Health and Nutrition

Biography

Biography: Mohammad Shahjahan

Abstract

Though the Government of Bangladesh health infrastructure and NGO supported health services have improved over the years mainstreaming nutrition services is not yet implemented at scale. There is low awareness among people in the rural areas about nutrition and availability of services. In order to address the nutritional needs of the community especially for the children, adolescent and pregnant women, appropriate knowledge and use of nutrition, hygiene, and sanitation practices by the community is required. Bangladesh Center for Communication Programs (BCCP), a leading non-government strategic communication organization in Bangladesh for the social development sector, implemented Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) program for public health where nutrition issue was given priority. BCCP worked with the government’s Institute of Public Health & Nutrition (IPHN) to strengthen the essential SBCC services through government infrastructure. BCCP advocated for, and created, a SBCC team within IPHN to give emphasis to high-quality SBCC for nutrition. Conducted a series of trainings with the team, and facilitated to integrate nutrition with other population and health services. Through IPHN, BCCP also introduced appropriate information and communication technology for SBCC and Knowledge Management, where nutrition was an important component. BCCP partnered with the NGO Health Service Delivery Project and the urban primary health care service delivery project to promote positive health and nutrition practices at community level. These projects focused on improvements in knowledge and practice, and integration of nutrition into current health delivery service through a community based approach, so that a significant proportion of households are reached with appropriate nutritional practices messages. This improved access to and use of services and contributed in reducing undernutrition and improving the overall nutrition situation in the intervention areas. Building upon the learning from these projects, it is important to scale up these strategic communication approaches especially through government services.