Government officials visit Healthy Village

A high-level team visited “Bolli Purba Para Healthy Village”, a declared healthy village in Satkhira Sadar Upazila in Satkhira district on October 12, 2021, led by the Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) of Satkhira district, Mr. Kazi Arifur Rahman. Among others, the President of the Satkhira Press Club, Mr. Maomtaz Uddin Ahmed Bapi, the Upazila Executive Officer (UNO), Ms. Fatema-tuz-Zohra, the Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer (UHFPO), Dr. Mahbubur Rahman, the District Senior Health-Education Officer, Mr. Pulok Chakrabarty, and the Chairman of Bolli Union, Mr. Md. On behalf of the Max Nutri-WASH Program, Sheikh Babul, Regional Manager of MFB Khulna, focal person of implementing partner SKS Foundation, Mr. Polash Kunda, and Project Manager of SKS Foundation, Shafiqul Islam, were present.

The team visited the households in the healthy village and discussed with the Community Support Group (CSG) members. They also visited different activities of the Max Nutri-WASH Program implemented by the SKS Foundation. They discussed it with the households, Courtyard, and the Union Parishad bodies. Following the indicators of the Healthy Village, till now, 06 CSGs have been declared as “Healthy Villages” with the joint initiative and building awareness by the Union Parishad and the CSG. All the households use safe water for drinking, cooking, and washing purposes. They use a hygienic off-pit latrine with available water. Moreover, the Maxi basin has been installed at latrines and dining places for washing hands with the arrangement of water and soap to fulfill the demand for nutrition. The households have developed nutrition gardens adjacent to their houses, reared poultry firms, etc. They have also ensured breastmilk to the newborn immediately after birth, exclusively breastfeed the baby up to 6 months of age, and then provide additional food with breast milk up to two years of age. Each child has a birth registration card, and regular growth measurements are done and recorded. The children identified with severe and medium malnutrition have got proper treatment. The women have proper arrangements for bathing and maintenance of menstrual hygiene management, while pregnant women receive antenatal care and postnatal care services from the community clinic or other health complex. Moreover, all women and adolescent girls use sanitary pads during menstruation. Household members keep their surroundings clean and wash the clothes and toys of their children with soap and clean water to protect them from different diseases.

After visiting the Healthy Village, the visiting team expressed their satisfaction and emphasized the need to replicate all the best practices of the Healthy Village to the other unions in the district so that the people in other areas can also enjoy the life of a healthy village, which they called the “Advance Village.”