COVID-19 in Bangladesh: Community Paramedics join forces in national vaccination programme

The demand for skilled healthcare professionals has intensified in Bangladesh during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Community Paramedics (CP) services has been increasingly adopted in the national healthcare responses. CPs have contributed significantly in catering to the growing needs of healthcare services and provided immense support to the Government of Bangladesh in restricting the spread of the virus, collecting test samples, and providing general healthcare services. In that course, they have now been appointed in the national COVID-19 immunization programme.

Recognizing the significance of Community Parmedics in fighting COVID-19

As one of the most densely populated countries, Bangladesh already has scarcity of skilled healthcare professionals.  While the necessary healthcare needs are still unmet, the mass COVID-19 vaccination only adds more challenges to the national healthcare response. Understanding the challenge, the government has now recognized the significance of qualified service providers, like that of the CPs, to include as a vaccine administer in the national programme. The local health authorities and district Civil Surgeon offices have provided numbers of short orientations to the local qualified CPs and assigned them in several vaccination centers in the rural remote locations.

The huge population of Bangladesh and the demand of vaccination will require quality services like that of CPs to persistently fight off the pandemic in the several upcoming years.

Swisscontact’s project ASTHA supports the government of Bangladesh in reducing the acute shortage of skilled healthcare providers in rural Bangladesh by actively working with CPs in seven districts across the nation. ASTHA works to enhance capacity and improve service provision of the CPs. The project has been supporting the CPs to continue providing quality healthcare services amidst the pandemic.

This project is financed by Novartis, the Evi Diethelm Winteler Stiftung, the Laguna Foundation, the Leopold Bachmann Stiftung, among other donors. As part of the Swisscontact Development Programme, it is co-financed by SDC (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA).