Health Leaders teach essential health, nutrition and sanitation knowledge to their local communities. Some Health Leaders build health-related businesses, and others are trained to provide basic triage.
1 in 4 child deaths in Indonesia are due to unsafe drinking water.
But health leaders are educating communities.
By building on the base of existing small loan clients, Opportunity's Health program focuses on training local women to become health leaders in their communities, allowing them to spread life-saving knowledge and care while earning an income to support their families.To become health leaders, those interested and accepted into the program undertake six months of training in hygiene and sanitation, including community mapping which helps them more thoroughly understand their community's health needs. Within six months of graduating from the program, a health leader will be able to educate up to 200 households with basic health information, while selling products like soap and feminine hygiene products.
The result: improved health for the community, and a reliable source of income for health leaders.
As of December 2021, we're reaching
1,478,700 people
through our health programs in India, Indonesia and Bangladesh.
Rahima's story
Rahima was born in a poor village in Bangladesh. When she grew older, she suffered severe iron deficiency anaemia, which got worse when she fell pregnant. Struggling for seven years to access treatment, Rahima’s concern for the health of women in her community grew.
A microfinance client of Opportunity International Australia’s program partner in Bangladesh, Rahima was invited to train to become a Health Leader in her community. Once trained as a frontline health worker, she undertook a community survey to assess the health needs of 213 households in her area.
Her survey identified health issues like nutrition and sexually transmitted diseases, as well as antenatal and postnatal care. Rahima now supports her community with targeted, door-to-door education five-to-six days a week.
Proud of her work, Rahima is already noticing changes amongst the community members who participate in her sessions. Expectant mothers are completing antenatal check-ups and avoiding heavy physical labour during pregnancy, and nutrition levels in the community are improving. She’s even helped five women avoid the anaemia she suffered herself by enabling them to access iron supplements.