Project profile — Interprofessional Response to Disability and Maternal and Child Health Needs

• Bangladesh (100.00%)

• Health, General: Health policy and administrative management (12110) (5.00%)
• Basic Health: Health personnel development (12281) (95.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (significant objective)
• Participatory development and good governance (not targeted)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (principal objective)
• Youth Issues (significant objective)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (principal objective)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)

This project aims to increase access to, and use of, maternal and child health and disability (MCHD) services and contribute to a reduction in mortality and disability rates in Bangladesh, where the infant and maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the world. By strengthening and building on existing community health services, the project establishes interprofessional teams of community health and rehabilitation personnel with the capacity to respond to MCHD needs, and raises awareness among community members about the importance of using such services. Over 1,000 maternal, child health and disability workers, community health workers, policy makers and 12,000 community members are expected to benefit from training, education, policy advice and coordination. Queen’s University is working in partnership with the Centre for Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (Bangladesh) and the Bangladesh Health Professions Institute to implement this project. This project is part of Canada's Maternal, Newborn and Child Health commitment. The maximum CIDA contribution to this project includes $10,000 for monitoring purposes.

The expected intermediate outcomes for this project include: (1) increased utilization of Interprofessional Maternal and Child Health and Disability (IPMCHD), gender sensitive and environment inclusive services by women and children; (2) improved quality of gender responsive and environmentally relevant Interprofessional Maternal and Child Health and Disability (IPMCHD) education for health professionals at educational institutions; and (3) increased use of interprofessional (IP) and inclusive approach in Maternal and Child Health and Disability (MCHD) policy making by responsible Ministries to contribute to the achievement of Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5.

Results achieved as of May 2013 include: 3,922 people participated in over 40 project activities (68% women, 7% women with disabilities and 7% men with disabilities); (ii) 34 teaching team members and 35 online learners completed training programs on interprofessional maternal and child health and disability (IPMCHD) services, gender, and environmentally sensitive services, thereby improving the availability of these services in the communities; (iii) the teaching team trained 512 service providers in disability and maternal and child health and delivered 21 inter-professional awareness days to raise awareness of the availability of these services for thousands of community members. These results are contributing to improving people’s access to maternal, child health and disability services.

• Proactive disclosure