DESCRIPTION
Full Title: Proof of concept: Using RHCC (Reproductive Health (RH) Kits, Capacity Building, Community Awareness) Intervention in Facilities to Reduce Maternal Mortality and Morbidity in Kulaura Upazila, Bangladesh
Short Title: Pilot of Facility and Mobile Kits
Duration: January 2026 – December 2026
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) (ESRC IAA – C4)
Core Team: Prof. Nibedita Ray-Bennett (PI)
Support Members: Mr Alex Skinner and Dr Te Klangboonkrong (Project Coordinators)
Collaborators (Bangladesh): Dr Elvina Mustary (Reproductive Health Services Training and Education Program), Professor Fariha Hassin (Bangladesh Medical University) Mr Maqbul Bhuiyan (Data Management Aid)
Collaborators (India): Mr Vinay Tallapally and Dr Piyush Singh (Dycine Pharmaceuticals Ltd.)
Pilot of Facility and Mobile Kits
The Pilot of Facility and Mobile Kits is the continuation of the UKRI-ESRC (1037) Accelerate funded project ‘Facility and Mobile Kits for Disasters and Crises’ which concluded on 31 January 2026.
The “Facility and Mobile RH Kits for Disasters and Crises” are designed to treat incomplete abortion, missed abortion and post-abortion care management (before and after 12 weeks of missed period of menstruation) during disasters and humanitarian crises. These Kits consist of essential and emergency medicines, equipment, consumables and information, education and communication materials.
In this project, we will collect and generate market research data, through a pilot of the Kits in a disaster-prone district of Sylhet, Bangladesh, namely Kulaura upazila. Five primary health care facilities in the upazila have been chosen by the Government of Bangladesh Directorate General of Family Planning for the pilot, because they are located in hard-to-reach areas and are at high risk of flash flooding.
Through this pilot, we will evaluate the effectiveness of the Kits in enabling the safe and timely management of post-abortion–related complications in emergency settings, and generate evidence to inform policy decisions and support adoption of the Kits by the Government of Bangladesh’s National Family Planning Program, in which menstrual regulation has been an integral component of the Essential Service Package (ESP) since 1979.
Users, Beneficiaries and Benefits
The primary users of the Facility and Mobile RH Kits are health service providers and community health workers with limited resources in disaster-prone hard-to-reach areas.
The end beneficiaries of the Kits are poor and vulnerable women and girls of reproductive age group (15-49 years) who may need services for the management of incomplete or missed abortion or post-abortion complications during the time of flood.
The Kits offer several benefits, some of which are listed below.
- The Facility RH Kit contains essential and emergency medicine, equipment, consumable supplies, instructional and informational guidelines. They come in two sizes: medium (M) for 15 patients, and large (L) for 30 patients.
- The Mobile RH Kit comes in a lighter, portable package. It contains a scaled-down set of items for first-line response, with the capacity to serve five patients per Kit.
- The frontline health workforce can be trained to administer the Mobile Kit efficiently.
- The Kits are designed for primary and secondary health facilities in hard-to-reach rural areas (e.g., hill tracts, river islands, wetlands).
- They can be pre-positioned at the health facility level to promote disaster readiness.
- Both types of Kits contain educational materials, such as post-procedure patient leaflets and instruction guidelines for service providers to administer the Kit.
- Both types of Kits contain the provision of referral services.
- Both Kits can contribute towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals 3 (Target 3.1 to reduce mortality), 5 (Target 5.6 to ensure universal access to SRH) and promote health system disaster resilience (Sendai Framework’s Global Target D).
Links to the earlier phases
The first phase of this project began in 2015 with funding from the IPPF’s Innovation Fund.
You can find the story of this project through these links:
Project Updates
February 3, 2026: The pilot project began on 17 January, 2026. The research team is busy preparing for ethics approval at the University of Leicester and Bangladesh Medical University for the pilot phase.