UH & FWC Management Committee Meeting Held in Barguna Sador Community participation and local leadership are essential for strengthening primary healthcare services.With this goal in mind, the bi-monthly meeting of the UH & FWC Management committee was recently held at the Aylapatakata Union Health & Family Welfare Center under Barguna Sadar Upazila.
The meeting was organized by SERAC-Bangladesh, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and was technically supported by Plan International Bangladesh.
The meeting was chaired by Mr. Mosharraf Hossain, the Chairman of Aylapatakata Union Parishad, bringing together committee members, health service providers, project staff, and youth representatives. At the beginning of the session, the center’s SACMO presented an overview of the overall service activities of the health center. The presentation also highlighted the importance of the Adolescent Friendly Health Service Corner and discussed the existing challenges in providing services, especially for adolescents and young people.
For a long period, the UH & FWC Management Committee meetings had remained inactive. Recognizing the importance of regular coordination and community engagement, SERAC- Bangladesh took the initiative to reactivate and regularize these meetings. As part of strengthening the committee structure, SERAC-Bangladesh also proposed restructuring the committee by including youth and adolescents as members ensuring that young people’s voices
are included in health service planning and monitoring.
During the meeting, participants actively shared their opinions, experiences and recommendations. They emphasized the need to increase community awareness and encourage more people, especially adolescents, to seek services from the Adolescent Friendly Health Service Center. Participants expressed their commitment to working together to improve service utilization and community engagement.
In his closing remarks, the Chairman thanked SERAC-Bangladesh for taking the initiative to restart the UH & FWC Management Committee meetings. He agreed on the inclusion of adolescents in the committee and assured that budget allocation from the Union Parishad would be considered to improve the quality of services at the health center. He also suggested organizing the management committee meeting every three months to ensure regular follow-up and coordination.
Among others present at the meeting were Space to Lead Project volunteers and peer leaders
Golam Rabbi and Mitu Akter, Youth and Advocacy Associate Rabiul Islam, and Project
Coordinator Md. Shafiullah from SERAC-Bangladesh.