Delivering a contextualised package of care for child development (0 – 12 months) and maternal mental health in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh.

Prevalence of developmental delays among infants is known to be high in refugee camps of Bangladesh, due to prolonged exposure to adverse situations. To address this challenge, the Canadian government, through Grand Challenges Canada, supported the development, implementation and evaluation of an early child development and maternal depression care among forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals (at refugee camps) in Bangladesh.

Lead Technical Partner: Association for Social Development (ASD), Pakistan

In-country Implementation Partner: Advancement through Research and Knowledge (ARK) foundation, Bangladesh

Location: Rohingya refugee camps of Bangladesh.

Duration: July 2018 – December 2020

Funded by: Grand Challenges Canada

Activities:

• Blocks in refugee camps mapped and selected from Cox’s Bazaar.
• Literate refugee women were selected, enabled and supported to deliver pictorial-tool-assisted counseling to mother-child dyads
• About 351 mother-child dyads were recruited and given care for early child development and maternal depression.
• The registered mother-child dyads were followed-up and assessed (at 12-months of child’s age) for child development and maternal depression.

Outputs:

• 11 CHWs got trained on delivering early child development care.
• 351 mother-child dyads received early child development and depression care.

Outcome:

The intervention evaluation, through a cluster randomized trial and process evaluation study, found the intervention effective, feasible and potentially scalable.