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March, 2022
Welcome to our first e-newsletter of 2022. Let us know what you think, and please share with anyone you think would be interested.
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Dear Reader,
Although the new year has begun in the ongoing covid-19 pandemic, we are hopeful that 2022 will bring back a sense of normalcy. HealthBridge has adapted to a virtual workspace and has continued to work with our partners globally to contribute to the improvement of health and nutrition of vulnerable populations, making cities more livable, and preventing non-communicable diseases. While working virtually has come with unique challenges, HealthBridge staff and partners have found new ways of connecting and learning from each other.
We are especially grateful to all of our partners around the world who are working to establish connections within the communities we serve and deliver programs which facilitate meaningful change. We are also very excited about two new sexual & reproductive health projects which have been launched in Bangladesh, Nepal & Vietnam – you can read more about these projects below.
Thank you for supporting us and our partners in the work we do. We hope you enjoy reading our latest update and we wish you and your loved ones a wonderful year ahead. Stay safe and take care of each other.
Sincerely,
Sian FitzGerald, Executive Director
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Two New Project Launches!
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Improving reproductive health and preventing child marriage in Nepal and Vietnam
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A new project has launched to improve access to reproductive health services to girls and women and reduce the incidences of child marriage in the Son La province of Vietnam and Kalikot district of Nepal. The project is expected to reach thousands of women and girls as well as the broader communities in the region, in order to increase knowledge in local communities of the importance of timely sexual & reproductive health (SRH) services, gender equality, sexual & reproductive health rights (SRHR) as well as the impacts of sexual & gender based violence (SGBV). The project will also contribute to improving local health facilities and strengthening the capacity of local health service providers. Local health care workers, community members, and policy makers will be engaged in order to raise awareness in the community of the health risks of early marriage, and to deliver high quality gender responsive and inclusive health services. The project takes an integrated and holistic approach to empower local adolescent girls and women to exercise their reproductive health rights and ensure access to health and reproductive services when needed.
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Improving sexual and reproductive health and rights in Dhaka
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In Bangladesh, a new project has launched focusing on improving SRHR among vulnerable and underserved women, girls and other vulnerable groups residing in urban areas of Narayanganj and Gazipur Districts of Dhaka. The project will also address the negative impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had with respect to women and girls access to SRH services. In collaboration with local partners, the project will, (1) provide training to health facility staff at 154 garment factories and clinics to provide quality contraceptive care responsive to the needs of adolescents and SGBV survivors; (2) facilitate social and behavioural change to support women’s and adolescent girl’s needs with regard to SRHR; and (3) provide infrastructure, commodities and technology required to provide quality woman-centered contraceptive services in the selected facilities. The project will also establish effective communications to ensure adolescent girls and women have access to accurate information on the availability of contraceptive services and resources for SGBV.
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HealthBridge Foundation Updates
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Piloting street food vending and a farmers’ market in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Dhaka has often been ranked as one of the least livable cities in the world. Contributing factors include high levels of air pollution due to motorized transport and lack of access to fresh and safe foods. Fresh and healthy food is often not locally available, and residents must travel long distances to the supermarkets where they are also more likely to purchase highly processed food, which is often less healthy and nutritious than the food offered by local vendors or in a traditional market. In order to bring fresh and nutritious food closer to consumers, our partner Work for a Better Bangladesh Trust, with support from FAO, implemented a pilot project to establish a special food vendor zone and set up a farmers’ market in Dhaka North City. The project aimed to provide consumers with accessible, affordable and nutritious food from a locally based farmer’s market and to support more hygienic food practices among street food vendors, as well as establish a licensing system for street food vendors to sell their wares. The farmers’ market was held over the course of 15 weeks, which engaged 10 local farmers and served over 1,500-2,000 consumers on average per week. The project also created a database of over 115 street food vendors and built capacity among over 103 street food vendors regarding food safety and hygiene. Considering the success of this pilot, the project will be scaled up and expanded to 14 markets throughout Dhaka.
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Vietnam introduces the new National Nutrition Strategy
In Vietnam the National Nutrition Strategy (NNS) is developed every 10 years to set out the goals, objectives and indicators that the country aims to achieve in nutrition, and policy measures the Government needs to employ in order to achieve these targets. Overweight and obesity, which are major risk factors for a number of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), is a growing health concern in Vietnam with a rapid increase in prevalence among both children and adults. In order to tackle the concerning rise in NCDs in Vietnam, HealthBridge has been working closely with our local partners to generate and document research-based evidence on overweight and obesity trends, best practices and policies to control the consumption of unhealthy foods and sugar sweetened beverages (SSB), as well as the impact of these policies. HealthBridge has used this research to provide comments and technical inputs to the Drafting Committee for each round of the NNS and to advocate for key policy measures including a SSB tax and front-of-package labelling (FOPL) on food products. The new NNS was approved by the Ministry of Health on Jan 5, 2022 for the period of 2021-2030 and includes provisions for SSB tax and FOPL. The key inputs from HealthBridge will serve as the background for further legislative documents on SSB tax and FOPL in Vietnam and strengthen the strategy aiming to improve the nutritional status of the people of Vietnam.
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Consider giving a gift to HealthBridge in support of our work to improve the lives of individuals and communities around the world, made even more vulnerable by the ongoing covid-19 pandemic.
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More updates and highlights from HealthBridge will be coming your way in the second quarterly newsletter in June 2022!
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