Community Scorecards: Engaging Community and Bringing in Positive Changes to Health Service Delivery at Community Clinics in Rural Bangladesh

Community clinics, a flagship programme of the Government of Bangladesh, are health facilities set up to deliver primary health care, family planning and nutrition services to rural people at the grassroots level. Currently there are 13,500 community clinics (CC) in Bangladesh, aimed to cover every 6000 rural population. This set up is a unique example of public-private partnership as community clinics run through community participation. A community clinic is managed by a Community Group (CG), representing healthcare providers and a Community Support Group (CSG) that is representative of the community. Despite the widespread establishment of the community clinics, challenges such as shortage of supply, provider absenteeism, lack of properly defined roles and responsibilities of human resources, poor behaviour towards patients, weak accountability and governance, and absence of active participation from community in healthcare delivery restrict efficient use of these facilities and available resources.