Improving care for malaria patients
MSF’s work in Bangladesh takes place in three districts that make up the Chittagong Hill Tracts region, an isolated area near the country’s borders with Myanmar and India, in which the need for medical aid is tremendous. Government policies and insurgent groups have inflicted discrimination, deprivation and marginalization on the region’s indigenous people, resulting in decades of conflict and massive displacement. Moreover, public health care services are scarce, and few other NGOs are present. Since 1999, MSF has a wide network of clinics, malaria-treatment sites and health education outreach posts in the northern part of Khagrachari district. Recently, the organization extended its activities to the neighboring Rangamati district. The Chittagong Hill Tracts, unlike other parts of Bangladesh, are hard hit by malaria, which produces high rates of illness and death. MSF treats people with malaria using highly effective artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT). » More