Meet the female volunteers bringing door-to-door maternity care to Bangladesh’s slums and villages

After suffering a miscarriage, Shanaz Parbin Moni has made it her mission to ensure no more mothers or babies die during childbirth in Bangladeshi villages

By Peter Yeung

This article was originally published by inews.co.uk. An excerpt has been reposted below.

When Shanaz Parbin Moni began bleeding and feeling unwell while giving birth in 2006, there were no primary care services near her home in Bangladesh. By the time she reached a hospital, which took several hours, it was too late. She lost her severely underweight child.

Ms. Moni, who is responsible for 24 villages in Bangladesh’s district of Barisal, is part of a women-led, community-based healthcare system that has radically reduced death and disease across the South Asian nation.

The 37-year-old oversees a team of Shasthya Shebikas, community volunteers living in each village. More than 50,000 of these women now provide quick, affordable, convenient and culturally-adapted treatment to 80 million people across 61 of Bangladesh’s 64 districts.

“These women have transformed the lives of millions,” says Morseda Chowdhury, who leads the community health worker program at the Bangladeshi nonprofit BRAC, one of the main partners.

Read the rest of the article here.