M0809 Bangla Usaid Grant Approval July 09

IMMEDIATE RELEASE Alan Talens, Child Survival and Health Technical Advisor, 616-241-1691, ext. 4148 Beth DeGraff, Media Contact, cell 616-648-7821 or 1-800-55-CRWRC

CRWRC Wins $1.4 million USAID Grant OCTOBER 12, 2009—The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (www.crwrc.org) was awarded a $1.4 million innovation grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID*) starting September 30, 2009. The 5-year project will expand and deepen an outstanding child survival and maternal health project in one of the poorest areas of Bangladesh. “By working through our faith-based partners in northwestern Netrakona District, CRWRC is creating a network of trained community volunteers who collaborate with government health providers and provide person-to-person support for new and expecting mothers and their newborns,” says Alan Talens, a public health advisor for CRWRC and the grant’s administrator. The result, Talens says, is a successful, sustainable program that makes better health a priority for all family members—and saves lives. In a previous 5-year child survival grant in the same target area, the number of children who died from preventable disease was reduced by 34 percent—to below the national average. Plus, trained birth attendants or skilled health personnel assisted with all but five percent of deliveries by the end of the first project; in 2004, nearly 80 percent of births were unattended. CRWRC far exceeded the project targets for several initiatives under the previous grant by using a well-established community organizing model. The model puts the ownership of health promotion activities into the hands of community members. CRWRC adapted the model for use by its partners in Bangladesh in the 1980s, and the new grant includes funding to test its effectiveness in reaching the poorest community members. Through the new $1.4 million grant from USAID, CRWRC will facilitate training for 1,350 additional traditional birth attendants, community health volunteers, and village doctors at LAMB Hospital in Dinajpur. These trained volunteers will then mobilize community members to access health resources and improve health and hygiene practices at home. The program is unique in that creates an “outreach link” between community-based and facility-based health care, and complements government health services.

Nearly 250,000 Bangladeshi children under five years old die each year—just under half of these children are newborns. CRWRC’s innovative model for public health builds on proven methods that increase good health and reduce mortality among the poorest of high-risk mothers and infants. “This new grant allows us to continue a remarkable program in Bangladesh,” Talens says. “Together, we are building sustainable public-private partnerships that mobilize poor families to access quality maternal and newborn health services.” Members of the Press who wish to interview CRWRC public health advisor, Alan Talens, call 1-800-55-CRWRC or 616-241-1691, ext. 4148, or call CRWRC media contact, Beth DeGraff, at 616-648-7821. To learn more about CRWRC relief, development and justice programs, go to www.crwrc.org. CRWRC is a non-profit agency of the Christian Reformed Church in North America ministering to people in need around the world with relief, development, and justice since 1963.

*This program is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC). The contents of this press release are the responsibility of CRWRC and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

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