| Assisting people in
neglected areas
MSF offers medical care in three parts of
the southern Chittagong Hill Tracts region
of Bangladesh where health care is almost
nonexistent. The region's indigenous
inhabitants have faced discrimination and
marginalization for years due to conflict
and forced displacement. Today MSF is one
of the few nongovernmental organizations
offering help in this part of the country
near the border with Myanmar and India.
People living in the region face high rates
of illness and death caused by malaria.
MSF's research on malaria-treatment
regimes — which demonstrated parasite
resistance to the traditional chloroquinebased
therapy — has led to changes in the
national treatment protocol. Efforts by MSF
and others to introduce highly effective
artemisinin-based combination therapy
(ACT) as the first-line treatment for P. falciparum
malaria in Bangladesh were successful,
and the Bangladeshi government
agreed to the change in November 2004.
Malaria treatment is given through a wide
network of clinics and malaria-treatment
sites located in the northern part of
Khagrachari district, nearby Rangamati district
and the southern Bandarban district.
MSF also brings mobile clinics to remote
villages to provide urgently needed basic
health care. Often teams must enter areas
on foot or by boat because roads are inadequate
or nonexistent. Using games and
drama, MSF's outreach workers also raise
awareness about the care available at the
clinics and teach villagers about malaria
prevention, prenatal care and basic
hygiene.
Flood relief
MSF supported mobile clinics in the districts
of Sirajganj and Tangail and in the
capital, Dhaka, when floods hit the region
during July and August 2004. More than 30
million people were affected by the floods.
MSF has worked in Bangladesh since 1985.
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