Bangladesh

Health and economic costs of tuberculosis (TB) are substantial. Bangladesh has the seventh highest burden of tuberculosis and the fourth highest number of people dying from TB in the world. The threat of TB is particularly high in cities like Dhaka, which is home to approximately 10 million people. The USAID-funded Challenge TB project worked to help children like Sabbir and their families to combat TB, and help prevent the spread of disease.

Watch Samia, a little girl infected with TB, and her family journey through Bangladesh's healthcare system to finally end up at the specialized TB center at the Dhaka Children's Hospital. Every year about 120,000 patients with TB are missed and not treated in Bangladesh. Many are children. Challenge TB, USAID's flagship global TB program worked to strengthen laboratory services in Bangladesh, build child-friendly TB centers, and utilize digital technology for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

With support from the UK’s Department for International Development, and in collaboration with the Bangladesh Directorate General for Drug Administration, MSH helped to establish the country’s first-ever standards for retail drug outlets and implement an accreditation program to increase people’s access to safe, affordable, quality medicine, and to other pharmacy services such as patient counseling. The MSH-led Better Health in Bangladesh Project has trained more than 5,000 pharmacists, with the goal of accrediting 5,000 “model” pharmacy and medicine shops by 2021. The program has also developed this television commercial, aired on national T.V.