On 8 November 2022, Dr Rashid Zaman, Dr Shafiqul Islam, and Ms. Fawzia Nasrin of FCDO visited a model medicine shop in Jamalpur Sadar district and met with the Assistant Director of the local DGDA office, Ms. Gouri Rani Basak. The team was interested in the medicine shop’s adherence to good pharmacy practice, viz., presence […]
FCDO team visited model medicine shop in Jamalpur Read More »
On 26 December 2022, The Daily Ittefaq published a news article titled “Antimicrobial Resistance and Pharmacy Services in Bangladesh,” co-authored by Dr Iftakhar Hasan Khan, Principal Technical Adviser, and Ms. Raian Amzad, Technical Adviser, of BHB. The article covered BHB’s contribution to combating AMR and strengthening pharmacy services in Bangladesh through the model medicine shops
BHB undertook a study in 2022 to understand the level of adherence to Good Pharmacy Practice by the medicine dispensers they had trained from model medicine shops. DGDA leads the model medicine shop initiative with technical assistance from BHB and funding from FCDO. The preliminary report shows that 51.2% of the medicine shops (129 out
Study shows model medicine shops effectively maintaining the product cold chain Read More »
BHB runs an eLearning platform for medicine dispensers in Bangladesh to enhance and upgrade their professional knowledge and skills. BHB plans to further enrich this platform for grade C pharmacy technicians (medicine dispensers) who work in Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA)-licensed medicine outlets to access continuous professional development material. The eLearning course content will
Upcoming plan for BHB-MSH’s eLearning platform Read More »
Funded by the British Government Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Management Sciences for Health’s Better Health for Bangladesh (BHB) project has provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) to implement its 4th Health Population and Nutrition Sector Programme (HPNSP)—supporting 24 projects since 2017. In addition, BHB has helped organize
An FCDO team comprised of Development Director, Mr Matt Cannel; Health Advisers, Dr Rashid Zaman and Dr Shafiqul Islam; and two members from FCDO’s education team visited two model medicine shops in Barishal on 26 September 2022 accompanied by Dr Iftakhar Hasan Khan, Mr Mominur Rahman, and Mr Syed Rajib Rahman of BHB. The team
FCDO’s Development Director visited BHB’s activities in Barishal Read More »
BHB has exceeded its 2021-2022 target of accreditation of retail medicine outlets and could accredit 4,542 medicine outlets against a 2021-2022 target of 4,000. With BHB, so far, helped DGDA to accredit 6,735 medicine outlets beginning from 2019. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) provides support to BHB for carrying out the accreditation
BHB exceeded 2021-2022 target of accreditation of retail medicine outlets Read More »
BHB has developed and is running an eLearning platform for quite some time from now. Recently, a plan has been made to use it for continuous professional education of the dispensers, who work in the retail medicine outlets of Bangladesh particularly in the model pharmacies and model medicine shops. This online eLearning platform can be
eLearning platform to promise new breakthrough Read More »
BHB engaged PCB to develop the training materials for the Grade B pharmacists. PCB mobilized experts, teachers, and professionals to develop trainees’ handbook, trainers’ manual, and PowerPoint slide sets. Review process underwent several steps. Finally, on 12 September 2022, the training materials development team and vice-president of PCB held a meeting and finalized the materials.
BHB works with PCB to develop training materials for Grade B pharmacists Read More »
BHB completed the distribution of training handbooks to Grade C pharmacy technicians who recently completed GPP training given by BHB. The online training began on 21 August 2021 and last batch of pharmacy technicians finished on 28 March 2022. The total number of successful participants was 6,206. Following the end of the training, BHB completed
GPP training handbook and certificate distribution to Grade C pharmacy technicians Read More »
Better Health in Bangladesh’s study to assess medicine dispensers’ adherence to GPP in Bangladesh has progressed under the leadership of a well-known researcher, Dr. ATM Iqbal Anwar. BHB is a project of MSH which receives technical assistance grant from FCDO. The quantitative study was conducted in five districts, Dhaka, Satkhira, Natore, Chandpur and Sylhet. The
Study on the medicine dispensers’ adherence to GPP is nearly complete Read More »
The World Pharmacists Day is observed all over the world on 25 September each year. To commemorate the day this year, the Better Health in Bangladesh (BHB) project organized a webinar for more than 300 participants in collaboration with the Pharmacy Council of Bangladesh (PCB). BHB made a keynote presentation on Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP)
BHB observes World Pharmacists Day 2022 Read More »
An team of three senior leadership members of MSH comprised of Dr. Aday Adetosoye, Vice President, Global Health Program Delivery Group; Ms Colleen McGuffin, Chief People and Culture Officer; and Dr. Dan Schwarz, Associate Vice President, Global Health Systems Innovation, visited Bangladesh from 20 to 24 August 2022 to meet the staff members of MSH’s
MSH-BD staff boosted from senior leadership team’s visit Read More »
In July and August 2022, there has been good progress in the Directorate General of Medical Education’s (DGME) digitalization efforts, particularly in the Central Student Information Management System, which DGME has now rolled out country-wide. All the medical and dental colleges in Bangladesh, both private and public, use the system to centrally manage their students’
Update on Directorate General of Medical Education’s digitalization Read More »
BHB provided online training on GPP to 6,206 Grade C pharmacy technicians between August 2021 and March 2022. Teachers from university pharmacy departments, pharmacy professionals, and officials from DGDA and Pharmacy Council of Bangladesh (PCB) conducted the training sessions using curriculum endorsed by PCB. BHB worked with PCB to develop, print, and distribute a complementary
BHB’s training handbook distribution to Grade C pharmacy technicians Read More »
To help promote GPP in Bangladesh, BHB has maintained a Facebook page since 2018 with now more than 20,000 followers. Followers are mainly dispensers, pharmacy educators, pharmacy regulators, and medicine shop owners. In addition to promoting awareness of GPP and topics such as antimicrobial resistance and COVID-19, the page also covers Q&As and includes follower
BHB’s vibrant social media presence Read More »
An eminent researcher, Dr. ATM Iqbal Anwar, formerly a scientist at icddr,b, will head BHB’s assessment of medicine dispensers’ adherence to GPP. The study will be conducted in model pharmacies and model medicine shops in five districts: Dhaka, Satkhira, Natore, Chandpur, and Sylhet. A research protocol and an electronic data collection tool have been developed,
MSH’s Better Health in Bangladesh (BHB) project, with assistance from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO), is working with the Government of Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) to accredit retail medicine shops as either model pharmacies or model medicine shops, if they meet 12 standards set by the Ministry of Health
BHB is close to meeting private medicine shops’ accreditation target of 4,000 Read More »
The digitalization work of the Directorate General of Medical Education (DGME) continues to make progress. Two new developments following the publication of our previous March-April 2022 issue are below: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare approved central student information management system: On 30 June 2022, DGME demonstrated its new central student information management system for officials
Update on DGME’s digitalization Read More »
An experienced researcher will soon begin BHB’s study to assess dispensers’ adherence to good pharmacy practice (GPP) at accredited model pharmacies and model medicine shops. The study will investigate dispensers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practice in 32 districts where BHB and DGDA rolled out accreditation. The study will also look at dispensers’ views of the usefulness,
