Jeeon's COVID-19 response in Bangladesh

Protecting & empowering pharmacies and “village doctors”.

In Bangladesh, 200,000+ pharmacies and informal practitioners (known colloquially as “Village Doctors” or VD) serve as the first point of care for over 70% of the population for health issues and advice. As essential service providers, VDs continued to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic (98% of them were open or partially open as per our internal surveys, even at the height of nationwide lockdown), and were at the highest levels of risk, not only of contracting COVID but also of turning into super-spreaders of infection. However, these frontline practitioners have been largely ignored in the response strategy of the government and other development partners such as UN agencies.

In an attempt to weather this pandemic, Jeeon worked as one of the only organizations in the country to support these Pharmacies and Village Doctors, while raising awareness about their plight through advocacy with government and other development bodies. The COVID-19 Response Project was about ensuring that pharmacies and village doctors are equipped with the right knowledge, information, and equipment to effectively play their part in the fight against COVID-19. Our approach was four pronged – education, behaviour change, patient triage and risk identification, and  self-protection.

Read the full report here detailing their response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh.