Swisscontact’s ASTHA Project (Achieving Sustainability Towards Healthcare Access) is helping reverse this trend. On World Pharmacy Day 2025, (Link: https://www.fip.org/press-releases?press=item&press-item=205) as the global theme calls "Think Health, Think Pharmacist” – highlighting the importance of supporting pharmacists to strengthen health systems, Swisscontact has been creating examples on how empowering local health providers, especially those running pharmacies, can make a real difference.
Swisscontact supports the Community Paramedic (CP) training programme, a nationally accredited two-year course designed and regulated by the Bangladesh Nursing and Midwifery Council (BNMC). Many of the trainees are local pharmacy owners or their family members. Through the programme, they learn medical basics, such as anatomy, pathology, pharmacology, and public health, as well as patient counselling and rational drug use. The training includes a six-month clinical attachment in hospitals or health facilities, where they gain hands-on experience under professional supervision. Most importantly, they learn their scope of practice: while they can assess patients and offer primary healthcare advice, they cannot prescribe antibiotics or manage complex conditions, ensuring patient safety and proper referral pathways.
Take Otindro Natha Rai from Rangpur. After completing his Community Paramedic training at a Rangpur Community Paramedic Institute (RCPI), he worked alongside a close friend in his pharmacy business, learning the essentials of managing and operating a pharmacy. Later, Otindro returned to his community and opened his own pharmacy, combined with a CP outlet, in a local market. Drawing on both his training and hands-on experience, he now ensures that the medicines he stocks and suggests [as a community paramedic] are safe, effective, and from the best pharmaceutical companies. He provides primary healthcare services and guides patients toward the right treatment when needed.
Such changes are visible across Rangpur, Sylhet, Barisal and other regions where community paramedic programmes are operating. Pharmacies, once driven by guesswork, are becoming mini health access points, providing safe, affordable, and high-quality care closer to people’s homes. These trained CPs are bridging a crucial gap in the rural health system, offering early intervention and helping reduce pressure on overburdened government facilities.
Beyond individual transformation, Swisscontact is also shaping national health policies. It works closely with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW), BNMC, DGHS, DGFP and training institutes to modernise curricula, strengthen accreditation, and promote digital learning systems. The long-term vision is to upskill local pharmacists across Bangladesh, transforming them into competent, certified healthcare providers capable of delivering safe, affordable, and community-based primary healthcare.
As Bangladesh moves toward Universal Health Coverage, the quality of first contact care matters more than ever. On World Pharmacy Day, we recognise that pharmacies should not simply be places to buy medications, but hubs where medicine meets professional care.
By equipping local pharmacists and healthcare providers with the right knowledge, skills, and ethics, Swisscontact is helping Bangladesh move closer to a future where every pharmacy is a safe gateway to quality healthcare, not a risk, but a lifeline.