83Mridha MA, Khan NA • Institutional Training Arrangement for Community Health Workers in Bangladesh Original Article An Appraisal of the Institutional Training Arrangement for Community Health Workers in Bangladesh

This research sheds light on the nature, design and provision of institutional services for providing training to the premier community health service providers in the public sector (i.e. the Family Welfare Visitors or FWVs) in Bangladesh. Virtually no major study exists on the training of the FWVs in the country. The methodology of the research mainly consists of personal interview and questionnaire survey, covering of the concerned trainers and officials of the major public health administration and training institutions of the country, including the National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT), the Family Planning Directorate (FPD) and the Family Welfare Visitors ’ Training Institute (FWVTIs). The findings suggest that there is a broad agreement among the trainers and managers of concerned training institutes about the general inadequacy of the existing training programmes for the FWVs. The reasons behind the main inadequacy of training, as mentioned by the respondents include lack of gender awareness in the training programme, insufficient fund and properly qualified trainers, lack of an evaluation system, inadequate emphasis on practical training. The majority of the respondents were in full agreement that the FWVs needed substantial in-service training in-order to increase the effectiveness of their services to the community. The principal areas of training, which have been suggested by the respondent managers and trainers, included EOC, BCC, MR, RTI/STD, HIV/AIDS, clinical contraception, etc. The significance of the key role played by the FWVs has also been almost universally agreed. Key words: Bangladesh, community, health, training, health workers Introduction: Setting the Scene The public health sector policies in Bangladesh have undergone substantial change and rethinking in the recent times. In 1978, th