Reaching out to the homeless
Dhaka – Using mobile services, Marie Stopes Clinic Society is reaching out to meet the sexual and reproductive health needs of the homeless.
Imagine you are homeless. You don’t know where you will find a place to sleep tonight or when you will get your next meal. With limited access to even such basic needs how would you begin to get help if you were pregnant or had a sexually transmitted infection?
That’s where Marie Stopes Clinic Society (MSCS) comes in. Through its mobile health teams MSCS is providing much needed sexual and reproductive health services for homeless people in a variety of locations in Bangladesh. In 2009 alone, MSCS reached nearly 14,000 people through this initiative.
Each evening and throughout the night in Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna, MSCS’ mobile teams can be found at railway stations, boat terminals, and other locations where the homeless gather. The MSCS teams offer a range of services, from family planning and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and reproductive tract infections through to general health check ups, and basic treatment for gynaecological problems. They also refer people on for more detailed health services at one of MSCS’ static clinics if needed. Many of the people that the team see are victims of violence or have been forced into sex work and so they often also refer people onto other agencies for additional help.
To increase health knowledge amongst homeless people the mobile teams also regularly hold special sessions using film screenings, puppet shows, and group meetings to get health messages across in an engaging and fun way. The messages are specially tailored for this target group so that they can be easily understood and remembered.
Since launching the mobile homeless initiative in 2002, MSCS has reached more than 113,830 homeless people, many of whom would otherwise had no or very limited access to sexual and reproductive health services and information. However, now that the funding for this initiative has finished these vital services are under threat.