Title of the action / project: Sensitization and well being for the Urban Extreme Poor (SWBUEP)

Location of the action (country, region): 15 Slums areas in Dinajpur town, Bangladesh.

Short project description focusing on the expected outcomes

Situation Analysis: (Bangladesh Context):

Bangladesh is a small country in South Asia with a total land area of 147.6 thousand square km. The populations of the cities in Bangladesh are growing at more than 8 percent per year and they will be double in size in less than 10 years (IFPRI, 2002). Rapid inflow of poor migrants, mostly poverty ridden and environmentally induced, and growing urban population are creating continual pressure on health and livelihoods in urban areas. Around 40 percent of the total population nationally and 43 percent of population in urban areas consume less than 2122 kilocalorie per capita per day which is defined as absolute poverty. On the other hand, 24.4 percent of urban poor populations live on less than 1805 kilocalorie are referred as hard-core poverty (BBS, 2011).

Reproductive health:
Access to health care facilities is a constitutional right of citizens of Bangladesh. According to World Bank health statistics, there were 0.4 hospital beds and 0.3 registered physicians per thousand persons in Bangladesh in 2005. In comparison to other developing countries, these statistics of health services are lower. For instance, in India there were almost 1 bed and 0.58 physicians per thousand persons in 2003. Similarly, the out of pocket payment is also very high in Bangladesh, which accounts for about 97 percent of private expenditure on health in 2005. Data also show that among the treatment receiving ailing persons, around 44 percent received treatment from private sector or private doctors, 38 percent received from pharmacy or drug sellers and only 9 percent received treatment by government