IR's health centre in Rangpur provides health services for deprived rural communities. A mobile outdoor health centre also reaches out to communities in remote areas.

The service is provided by a registered medical doctor and is available to all sectors of society, although poor and extremely poor patients are provided medicine at subsidised prices and sometimes free of charge.       

Bangladesh is among the world's poorest nations and child mortality is high. As many as half of all children die during the first year of life or in infancy.

Many of those who survive early childhood are plagued with disability, debility, and temporary incapacity. It is estimated that about one-tenth of the life of an average person is seriously disrupted by ill-health.

The northern district is the poorest region in Bangladesh and is the most severely affected by health problems. Basic health facilities are lacking in northern Bangladesh.

In 1993, Islamic Relief established a Health Centre in Mithapukur Upazila, Rangpur District in northern Bangladesh to serve the needs of its rural population.

Project Objectives

• Improving the health provision in Rangpur by establishing a reliable health care system
• Raising awareness among the general population of hygiene, water sanitation and environment
• Reducing incidents of mortality and morbidity among the target community
• Providing diagnostic facilities at minimum cost

Project Activities

• Providing outdoor health service to people in remote parts of Rangpur.
• Providing low cost pathological services.
• Raising health awareness.
• building the capacity of traditional health service providers.
• Integrating the services provided by the Health Centre with the existing Mother and Child Healthcare project.

"Islamic Relief is striving for a fairer world. Our mission is to help the poor and needy to live sustainable, self-reliant lives within safe and caring communities. Our work is guided and shaped by the core values of accountability, humanitarianism, neutrality and impartiality, inclusiveness, integrity and co-operation, all of which are also integral to the Islamic faith."
Dr Hany El Banna - Founder of Islamic Relief

Islamic Relief was established in 1984 and our unique approach is the result of these many years of hands-on experience.

1. Where possible we adopt a community partnership-based approach; encouraging community involvement, understanding and ownership of projects.
2. We run the majority of our field projects ourselves, giving us direct insight into the problems faced and how best to solve them.
3. We aim to empower those we help in order to achieve sustainable results.
4. Though our emergency response teams are quick to respond to emergencies around the world, we continue to support communities long after the initial media interest has died down.
5. We recruit staff locally to benefit from their local knowledge. This ensures that we are culturally sensitive and allows us to reach communities and areas other organisations cannot.
6. Where necessary we coordinate our work with other reputable aid agencies, local organisations and governments.

Millennium Development Goals

Islamic Relief is committed to the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which have been agreed by the world’s leading development institutions in an effort to meet the needs of the world’s poorest by the year 2015. 

The goals:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

For more information about the MDGs, please visit: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/