WAHA - Women and Health Alliance International

CONTEXT

Bangladesh has a population of approximately 1.40 million people with 73 percent living in rural areas. Life expectancy at birth for women and men is 64 years.

In the past decades, the maternal mortality rate has been reduced in Bangladesh; even though the figure is still one of the highest in South Asia. In 2010, one out of 170 women dies during childbirth. Approximately 79 percent of births occur in rural areas where only 13 percent of deliveries are attended by skilled health personnel.

Source: WHO Country Profile Bangladesh ; WHO Global Health Observatory Database

WAHA INTERNATIONAL IN BANGLADESH

In May and June 2010, WAHA collaborator, Dr. Tom Raassen, attended a fistula workshop inDhaka for the capacity building of fistula surgeons and nurses in the treatment of fistula. The training was organised by UNFPA, Engender Health and the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

In April 2011, Dr Mulu Muleta, WAHA’s fistula surgeon and medical coordinator in Ethiopia, operated on women suffering from fistula at Cox’s Bazar Hospital and trained local surgeons. The workshop was organised by the The Fistula Foundation.

Read our latest update from Bangladesh