​This briefing is the second of a series of three that summarise key processes and outcomes emerging from an innovative partnership between CARE International UK and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to improve maternal and child health in six Asian countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Nepal. The partnership focuses on increasing the effectiveness and capacity of frontline health workers (HWs), strengthening health systems and enhancing community mobilisation. This briefing focuses on the CARE-GSK Community Health Worker (CHW) Initiative, a public-private partnership approach to strengthen community health systems so that they can, in turn, improve access to services for mother and children in remote communities in Bangladesh. The project will complete its first three-year phase in November 2015 and there are plans for a second project phase starting in 2015 and running until 2018. CARE International has been working in Bangladesh for 65 years to empower women, support the poorest people to improve their own health, food security and economic opportunities, and facilitate social transformation.

Fiona Samuels, Svetlana Ancker and Jahangir Hossain