Two programmes in the Chittagong Hill Tracts
A rural pandemic response run by GRAUS in partnership with Save the Children, and maternal and child health work with the ICRC in Naikhongchhari — both in Bandarban, both in 2020.
COVID-19 response — Alikadam Upazila Health Complex.
01 · Context
Between December 2020 and June 2021, Dr. Uzzal served as Medical Officer at Alikadam Upazila Health Complex in Bandarban — a COVID-19 project implemented by Gram Unnayon Sangathon (GRAUS) in collaboration with Save the Children.
02 · Challenge
A rural health complex needed to scale up its COVID-19 response with limited supplies and untrained staff.
03 · Intervention
The project supported the complex with medicines and instruments, and facilitated infection prevention and control and COVID-19 management training for the doctors and staff already working there.
04 · Leadership
As Medical Officer he led a team of nurses, medical assistants, and community health workers, managing daily clinic operations and keeping the complex running through the pandemic.
05 · Community
Health education programmes were arranged for community members alongside the clinical work — reaching people before they became patients.
What the project delivered.
15,000+
Patients served until the project ended
95%
Programme satisfaction rate
50+
Health workers trained
What the work required.
The programme, photographed.
Bandarban · Jan 2021
Two days of COVID-19 management training for medical officers, nurses, paramedics and mobile medical unit staff, at the GRAUS conference room.
Bandarban · Jan 2021
The facilitation team and participating healthcare staff at the close of the training.
Alikadam · 2021
Infection prevention and control training opens at the Upazila Health Complex conference room.
Alikadam · 2021
The funders, partners and objectives of the programme are set out before the clinical content begins.
Alikadam · 2021
Nurses and community health workers practise the handwashing sequence step by step.
Alikadam · 23 May 2021
Risk communication and community engagement training begins at the Upazila Family Planning office.
Alikadam · 23 May 2021
The ten principles of community engagement, from a rights-based approach through to do no harm.
Alikadam · 23 May 2021
A participant talks the room through the preventive measures she will carry back to her catchment area.
Alikadam · 2021
Questions from the floor — most of the room works in the villages the messages are written for.
Alikadam · 2021
Examination gloves checked against the delivery paperwork before they go into the store.
Alikadam · 2021
Medical oxygen regulators handed over to the health complex.
Maternal & child health — ICRC, Naikhongchhari.
Five months with the International Committee of the Red Cross in Bandarban, serving host and Rohingya communities — outpatient consultations, maternal and child health initiatives, and joint outreach planned month by month with the upazila family planning and health offices.
The centre
Staff and visiting ICRC delegates outside the Union Health & Family Welfare Centre.
The visit
Lotus flowers exchanged as the delegation arrives at the centre.
Coordination
The monthly upazila coordination meeting at the Naikhongchhari Family Planning Office, August 2020.
The room
Health and family planning staff from across the upazila, gathered for the same meeting.
Briefing
A session at the family welfare centre — programme slides, and the health-sector banner behind.
Community
Supplies and a token of thanks handed over at a community gathering.
The grounds
Staff planting a sapling in the grounds of the health complex.
More case studies will be added as programmes conclude.
This page is structured to hold several. For now it holds the two that mattered most.