MaMoni Stories during COVID: Nurun Nahar Begum (Family Welfare Volunteer/Paramedic)

Nurun Nahar Begum works as a paramedic in the Union Health and Family Welfare Center set up by the Union Parishad in the remote island of Nijhum Dip in Hatiya, Noakhali district. She has been serving here for last three years and before the pandemic struck, would provide services to an average of 150-200 mothers, including about 20 deliveries, every month. But since March, as fear of COVID-19 grows and the movements become restricted, the numbers have gone down by about half. These are not the only challenges she is facing. Nurun Nahar is unable to maintain social distancing protocols among clients during satellite clinic visits. Living far away from her family, she is bravely unbending when it comes to providing healthcare services to the community.

~ USAID’s MaMoni Maternal and Newborn Care Strengthening Project supports the government in achieving its goal of reducing maternal and newborn death rate in ten districts of Bangladesh, where ensuring a safe journey of motherhood, availability of quality services and resources are of high concern. Some of the project’s various interventions in its project areas include improving facility readiness and development of skills of health workers through training and counselling.

Disclaimer: The COVID-19 response stories reflect the continuity of essential maternal and newborn care related services amidst the pandemic in the project areas. No additional USAID funding has been mobilized for COVID-19 response. MaMoni MNCSP team mobilized local government and community people for additional resources as well as provided the service providers with necessary instructions and government guidelines to prepare their facilities to serve properly under the circumstances.