12 climate-resilient clinics launched in Cox's Bazar
These facilities out of the total 100 have been built under a joint venture to expand community healthcare network in remote areas
FE REPORT | Monday, 3 October 2022
Twelve climate-resilient community clinics were inaugurated in Cox's Bazar on Sunday under a joint initiative to increase healthcare access in remote areas.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) completed work of the first 12 community clinics out of the total 100 under construction, in association with the Bangladesh government and the World Bank as part of joint efforts to expand network of essential health services.
Health and Family Welfare minister Zahid Maleque inaugurated the facilities as the chief guest.
"We're now working together to ensure that healthcare services reach doorsteps of every person. Opening of the newly-constructed community clinics in Cox's Bazar is one such government step," the minister said at the event.
Access to basic infrastructure and services in the southernmost part of the country, where Bangladesh hosts around one million Rohingya refugees, was already much lower compared to the national average.
Many of the existing health facilities were built two decades ago and have since suffered infrastructural damage due to flooding and other natural hazards.
IOM demolished the old clinics and constructed larger, environmentally sustainable buildings that include solar-powered system, safe water supply and improved sanitation facilities, said the organisation in a media release.
"The multidimensional needs of refugee and host communities require strong partnerships between the key humanitarian and development actors to simultaneously tackle immediate and long-term challenges," Abdusattor Esoev, IOM chief of mission in Bangladesh, said.
This collaboration between the government of Bangladesh, World Bank and IOM represents a concrete example of how to translate the humanitarian-development nexus into lasting results, Esoev added.
As the first line of care in the communities, these clinics provide much-needed support with reproductive and family medicine; health screenings, gender-based violence response and nutrition counselling.
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