At the end of March, R4D and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) convened a three-day meeting to review findings from three studies on the role of informal providers in health care delivery. 

Commissioned a year earlier as part of the Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI), the studies looked at the dynamics of informal provider interactions within the broader health marketplace in Bangladesh, India and Nigeria. As the analysis wraps up, findings are becoming clear, and they are beginning to debunk some of the most common claims about informal provider practices: 

• Informal providers are not 'quacks' flying under the radar.
• Informal providers are not school dropouts - most are relatively well educated, completing secondary levels of schooling and beyond. 

To read more about the findings, click here. 

While in Bangladesh, the CHMI team also visited a few programs profiled in the CHMI database. These included clinics associated with the Smiling Sun Franchise Project, which is implemented by Chemonics and funded by USAID, and provides general primary healthcare services to Bangladeshis all over the country. The team also visited clinics run by BRAC Manoshi that provide maternal, newborn, and child health services.