Non Communicable Disease Diabetes Mellitus, Health Screening and Home Healthcare Service
As a result of advances in medical sciences and increased access to health care services, people are living much longer, and consequently the demography of Bangladesh is shifting towards an aging population. The population above the age of 60, presently constituting 7% of the total population of Bangladesh, is projected to be 10% by 2025 and 15% by 2050. Along with an aging population, Non-communicable diseases have emerged as the biggest burden of disease for this century. Therefore, it is imperative to create policies and domiciliary services that ensure proper management of NCD’s for the elderly in order to maintain equitable and just society.
Delivering care to the sick and the elderly in the comfort of home is a necessary aspect of healthcare service delivery. Since the turn of the century, the concept and practice of family doctors making house calls has declined. In addition, the acute shortage of both Nurses and Nurses Aid has made it difficult to deliver geriatric care to the elderly at home. Since the elderly urban population prefers to reside at home with their families, changes in the urban family lifestyle have made caring for the elderly or disabled a challenge with regard to time, safety, privacy, dignity, comfort, and cost.
Good HEAL Trust aims to implement Home Healthcare Service (HHS), an urban home-based, non-medical assistance to the elderly, in order to enhance employment opportunities of the underprivileged women and girls by enabling them to contribute as an integral part of society. To become home healthcare service providers, there are no formal education requirements. Interested individuals (moderately educated) are only expected to complete formal training under the supervision of licensed healthcare professionals for a few months. At the end of the training program the trainees have to pass a standardized test. By providing employment generating skills and creating employment opportunity for women, the Millennium Development Goal for women empowerment in Bangladesh can also be achieved.
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