The community clinic is one of the local health service facilities managed by the Bangladesh Government. Every union in the country has around three to four clinics that offer completely free primary healthcare. Each community clinic has a 13 to 17-member committee, the Community Group (CG), to oversee the clinic’s activities. Members of this committee are local people, the Union Parishad Chairman and the Ward Councillor (President of CG). The Community Groups help support the smooth running of community clinics through organising regular meetings and collaborative decision-making, though some meetings take place less frequently than planned.
In this context, the PPEPP-EU project has been organising meetings with these Community Groups to raise awareness of their roles as CG members, increase the committee’s activity and accountability and ensure regular CG meetings.
These root-level advocacy meetings, organised by the PPEPP-EU project, simulate a CG meeting to discuss various aspects and issues related to operating the community clinic. These meetings address concerns regarding regular and timely opening of clinics, updating essential medicines, maintaining the list of available medications, ensuring hygiene and cleanliness in the clinic, and promoting good patient behaviour. The meeting also provides relevant instructions to the Community Health Care Provider (CHCP)— the service provider for the community clinic—to improve the clinic’s overall service quality.
This initiative to revitalise the Community Groups has helped make many community clinics in the project areas more functional and accountable for delivering quality services. Now, these clinics prioritise extremely poor people for health services and raise awareness of health issues, such as family planning.
The PPEPP-EU project members have also been included in these CGs. They actively contribute to holding community group meetings regularly and engaging in various decision-making processes. Abdul Hamid, husband of a PPEPP-EU member and also a CG member from Bagerhat, shared, “The number of patients visiting the community clinics is now increasing because they are receiving adequate treatment and medicines and the clinics remain open for the scheduled hours. Getting service from a local health facility also saves some money for the local people.” These meetings also foster a sense of community ownership and active involvement in supporting and promoting the community clinic services, said Hamid.