Hosted by
CARE
Description
As more people continue to move to urban areas in search of job opportunities and improved standard of living, there is increasing need for health systems to adapt and become more responsive to the needs of these workers and their families and communities. Bangladesh is the fourth largest exporter of ready-made garments in the world, employing four million workers in urban factories. Eighty-five percent of these workers are women who need access to quality sexual and reproductive health information and services but have a hard time accessing them due to their strenuous and inflexible work schedule. CARE Bangladesh set out to address this issue in two garment factories in collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline and Marks & Spencer by establishing a comprehensive and sustainable model for health service delivery inside the factories themselves.
In this segment, Dr. Jewel Alam Azad of CARE will discuss:
- barriers keeping urban-dwellers from accessing quality health services,
- challenges providers face in attempting to offer these services in urban settings,
- lessons learned from CARE’s health programs in two factories in central Bangladesh, and
- gaps and opportunities for urban reproductive health and family planning to address in the coming years.