ABSTRACT
The Savar project demonstrated an eminently sensible approach to bringing basic health care and family planning services to rural people in a poor country. Contributions from individuals for health care removed the stigma of charity and created an awareness of the value of health in the mind of the beneficiaries. Savar, 22 miles from Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, is the site of the nongovernmental organisation Gonoshasthaya Kendra (GK), or People’s Health Centre. With a staff of twelve female and four male workers, the main thrust was similar to that of Savar GK: preventive health care, nutrition education, and family planning. Budgetary information suggests that in principle GK could provide a model for health delivery and community development for the whole society, providing Government perceived it thus, and behaved accordingly. GK offered education and training to a wide range of participants, with subject-matter varying from adult literacy to vocational training, from non-formal education for children to training programmes for health workers.
