Integration of an Essential Services Package (ESP) in Child and Reproductive Health and family planning with a Micro-credit Program for Poor Women: Experience from a Pilot Project in Rural Bangladesh
This paper showcases the experiences from an integrated program for community development in rural Bangladesh. The integrated program was piloted in two-phases - the first phase integrated a micro-credit program with a family planning and immunization program, and the second phase comprised subsequent integration with an essential services package (ESP) in reproductive and maternal and child health.
The paper explains the rationale behind introducing a community-based micro-credit program in the initial stages of an integrated program since:
- Acceptance to micro-credit is high in rural Bangladesh;
- It is more effective in breaking down poor women's informational, cultural, social, and psychological barriers to new ideas and practices;
- It empowers poor women clients and imparts better understanding and recognition of potential illnesses;
- This leads to higher utilization of available health services in family planning and private health care;
- Linkage with an organized micro-credit program works as a motivating factor for members and often results in their involvement as outreach volunteers.
Finally, the paper points out an additional advantage of integrating micro-credit and basic health services whereby, micro-credit plays an important role by supplementing the financial resources of the poor to gain easier access to health services.
