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Please find all the latest news about the Bangladesh Health Project at our new website.

Current IUBAT Volunteer Shares Her Experiences

Nancy Stephens, a Canadian volunteer currently at IUBAT, writes about her experience with the students in the CWCH (Centre for Women and Child Health) practicum setting. "Last week, one of our male Nepalese students was working in the paediatric ward and had done some health teaching about breastfeeding [with my help] to a young mother of a pre-term infant. This teaching was a bit out of his comfort zone and definitely outside of the cultural norm for a male to talk about “breasts” to a female. However, because he acted confident and was matter-of-fact about the subject, the information we had to offer was well accepted by this young mother. The following week he was working in a very busy immunization clinic where the students do a lot of health teaching. There are various health, maternity and nutrition topics that they cover. In our post-conference he reported that many women were very receptive to his teaching about breastfeeding, especially the concept of supply and demand. He also said that one woman asked him if he could tell her when her due date was (many of these women do not obtain any antenatal care so they do not necessarily know when they are due). Since the students had recently learned how to calculate the due date he told her he would help her figure it out. It surprised him that this woman was comfortable giving him that information and I can see that it has boosted his self-confidence. He is very approachable because he has such a gentle soul, and I am glad that he is willing to push the boundaries of what is culturally acceptable in this country. It is one of those small steps forward, and I am thrilled to be a part of it all.”

IUBAT Alumni Travels Internationally Promoting Local NGO

Noor Sabez, an IUBAT graduate is now working for the NGO, Socio Economic Development Association for Disabled (SEDAD) as well as working as a community health nurse throughout Bangladesh. He writes, "My responsibilities are to lead some projects and coordinate the staff and administrative work such as proposal writing, concept note writing, report writing, letter writing to donor organizations etc. However, I am also doing community health education and a general heath checkup program to the disabled, destitute, disadvantaged, distressed and poor communities in different districts of Bangladesh. Currently we are planning to provide physiotherapy to the physically disabled persons.  I am enjoying it very much and also have some opportunity to perform internationally. I went to Italy to give a presentation in a congress about the Social Impacts on Medical Practice in Bangladesh. It was a wonderful experience in my life that I performed internationally which leads me to be more confident as I am so young. The main purposes of us to visit different countries are to do training, meeting with donor organization and giving presentation about our activities etc".

Noor is looking forward to possibly going to Japan for physiotherapy training in the coming months. Congratulations on your accomplishments Noor and best of luck in the future!

New long-term volunteer at IUBAT

Through the kind cooperation of VSO-Bangladesh, we have a new volunteer RN Jim Ofonda. Jim, who will work with IUBAT College of Nursing for two years, is originally from the Philippines where he earned an MSN. Before joining VSO-B he worked as a Clinical Instructor for six years, teaching many subjects in the nursing curriculum. At IUBAT he has been focusing on Community Health, Mental Health and Nursing Administration. Welcome Jim and thank you for your great support to our students and our volunteers.

 

Developing Advanced Nursing Education in Bangladesh Conference

In late January, IUBAT and Simon Fraser University co-sponsored a workshop hosted by the Bangladesh Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on the topic of developing advanced nursing education in Bangladesh. Over thirty delegates from private and public colleges of nursing were invited to this “Cooperative Dialogue”, as well as representatives of the Bangladesh Nursing Council and Directorate of Nursing Services.  The conference proceedings will be published shortly and posted on our website.

IUBAT Student Excels

RN Firoza Khatun completed her diploma in nursing at a government nurse training institute. While working at Sajida Hospital in south Dhaka, she met IUBAT graduate Bimala Rai, who encouraged Firoza to complete a BSN at IUBAT. With bursary support from Bangladesh Health Project donations, Firoza was able to leave her job to become a full-time student. Since starting at IUBAT she has attained excellent marks in her first two semesters, earning university scholarships. Well done, Firoza!

IUBAT Progress

The IUBAT campus has continued to expand facilities with its fifth and sixth floors now under construction. In addition to the new Nursing Lab, there are new, well-equipped facilities for the agriculture, tourism and engineering programs. Demand for higher education is very strong in Bangladesh due to the large youth population. IUBAT Vice-Chancellor, Dr. M. Alimullah Miyan says that the university has come close to achieving its goal of recruiting students from all rural districts of the country. He has pioneered the concept of Knowledge-Based Area Development, which aims to strengthen community self-reliance by giving young men and women the opportunity to acquire marketable skills through higher education. Dr. Miyan explains that, “Graduates are expected to make efforts to pull up their family, neighbours and the village community through access to knowledge for social and economic development.” Various programs at IUBAT provide financial support for academically eligible students experiencing hardship.