Project News

Bangladesh Government Initiatives and Cooperation of JICA

The People's Republic of Bangladesh, the most densely populated country in the world with a population of approximately 160 million people, has 3.6 nurses per 10,000 people (in 2020), well below the level of 44.5 per 10,000 people, according to the World Health Organization. To improve this situation, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina pledged in 2009 to increase the number of nurses in public healthcare institutions. In parallel with the increase in the number of nurses, the Bangladesh government also revised its nursing education system in 2008 to improve the quality of nurses and introduced a bachelor's degree nursing program system (4-year program) as university education.

JICA implemented the Project for Capacity Building of Nursing Services (Phase 1) from 2016 to 2020, providing technical assistance to the Directorate General of Nursing and Midwifery (DGNM) in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Dhaka Nursing College, the hub of nursing education in Bangladesh, and Dhaka Medical College Hospital, the country's largest public hospital, which the nursing college belongs. In Phase 1, activities were conducted mainly in the following three areas: strengthening the capacity of nursing administration and expanding the accreditation^[1] program, improving the capacity of lecturers and clinical practice supervisors for the bachelor's course education, and improving the enhancement of the acceptance system at the clinical practice at the hospital. Then, JICA launched the Project for Capacity Building of Nursing Services (Phase 2) in March 2022. In Phase 2, the Project will expand its target to a maximum of eight nursing colleges (tentative) in Bangladesh. In addition, we will support the post-graduate careers of nurses based on a long-term perspective, such as the development of career paths for nurses with DGNM.

The situation of nursing services in Bangladesh

The first group of project members traveled to Bangladesh from March to April 2022 to share the project outline with relevant institutions and build relationships. We also visited two priority colleges (College of Nursing, Sher-e- Bangla Nagar and Mymensingh Nursing College) and surveyed the outline of education at the nursing colleges. We sensed the high expectations for the project from both the institutions and the universities involved.

During our visit to the Mymensingh Nursing College, we were able to see the situation at the adjacent Mymensingh Medical College Hospital. This hospital has 1,137 nurses working in three- shifts. On the day of our visit, the 1,000-bed ward was flooded with 3,000 inpatients up to the corridors, but nurses were sparse. How much is proper nursing care being provided to patients in this situation? And how much time can nurses devote to teaching nursing students under these working conditions? The faculty lecturer showed us as it is and said, "This is the reality of nursing in Bangladesh." Her comments were filled with a desire to improve the nursing environment as well as the learning environment for nursing students.

After seeing the local hospital, we realized once again that we would like to make every effort to create an environment where nursing students and nurses can provide better nursing care through the project for four years.

A ward is full of inpatients. (Mymensingh Medical College hospital)

The corridors are flooded with inpatients. (Mymensingh Medical College hospital)

Nursing students in Clinical practice. (Mymensingh Medical College hospital)

We received a very warm welcome at the Mymensingh Nursing College.