About the conversation
We know that parenting interventions bringing together multiple components of the Nurturing Care Framework (such as health, nutrition or early learning) can be effective in improving early child development outcomes when delivered on a small scale by dedicated project teams. We also know that government healthcare systems can be effective in delivering services to entire populations.
In Bangladesh, community clinics which are dispersed throughout the country and are each responsible for providing care to upwards of 6,000 people could serve as a possible avenue for scaling parenting interventions. However, until recently the delivery of a multicomponent early childhood development intervention throughout an entire region has not been tested.
This is what the team behind RINEW-G (Research on Integration of Nutrition, Early Childhood Development and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) set out to investigate in Chatmohar, a rural subdistrict northwest of Dhaka, Bangladesh, with a population of about 300,000 spread over 250 villages and served by 45 community healthcare facilities. In close collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and government healthcare workers in Chatmohar, RINEW-G was made freely available to all eligible caregivers in the entire subdistrict.
Join Dr. Fahmida Tofail and Dr. Jesmin Sultana from icddr,b, Dr. Helen Pitchik from the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Md. Jahangir Rashid Colin previously Deputy Director, Directorate of Health Services, Bangladesh Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and host Dr. Susan Walker from the University of the West Indies for a discussion about the experience of scaling the delivery of this intervention through the government healthcare system and the evidence gaps requiring further exploration.
Session recording
Scaling up a multicomponent parenting intervention using government system
Speakers
Senior Consultant Physician, Icddr,b
Dr. Fahmida Tofail, MBBS, PhD, is a distinguished scientist and senior consultant physician at icddr,b. Her research focuses on maternal and child health, especially neuro-cognitive development, positive parenting, child maltreatment, maternal mental health, and nutrition. She is actively developing integrated and sustainable interventions for high-risk children, with funding from reputed organisations such as NIH, NIMH, the LEGO Foundation, Gates Foundation, and WHO.
She collaborates with leading universities in the USA, UK, Sweden, and Bangladesh and serves as a guest faculty member at BRAC IED and the Teachers’ Development Institute. She mentors PhD and postdoctoral students at institutions including Griffith University, UC Berkeley, and Dhaka University.
Dr. Tofail holds an MBBS from Mymensingh Medical College, Bangladesh, and a PhD in Child Development from UCL, UK. She is a fellow of the RSTMH and Vice President of the Bangladesh Psychometric Society. She has authored over 140 peer-reviewed publications and is a reviewer for many top journals.
Assistant scientist, Environmental Health and WASH research group, icddr,b
Dr. Jesmin Sultana, MBBS, MPH, is an assistant scientist in the Environmental Health and WASH research group at icddr,b. She leads and contributes to groundbreaking research in early childhood development and the prevention of environmental toxins, such as lead. Her work focuses on designing and evaluating complex public health interventions to improve child health and development. She was an investigator for the “Research on Integration of Nutrition, Early Childhood Development, and WASH (RINEW)” project, a large-scale trial assessing the feasibility of delivering a multicomponent child development intervention through the government health system. She co-authored the recent publication of this study’s findings in BMJ Global Health, which provides critical evidence on the feasibility and effectiveness of integrating multicomponent child development services into the existing health system in rural Bangladesh. Dr. Sultana is passionate about translating evidence into actionable strategies to improve the health and development of children in low-resource settings.
Postdoctoral scholar, University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health
Dr. Helen Pitchik, PhD, MSc, is a postdoctoral scholar in the Division of Epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health. Her research aims to inform the design of effective, sustainable, and scalable interventions that invest in local capacity to improve maternal and child health and early child development in low-resource settings globally. She has been collaborating with colleagues in Bangladesh since 2016 and has also worked on collaborative research projects in India, Tanzania, and Kenya. Her work has been supported by multiple grants, including most recently an NIH NICHD K99/R00 Career Development award. Dr. Pitchik holds a PhD in Epidemiology from UC Berkeley School of Public Health, a MSc in Global Health and Populations from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and an AB in neurobiology from Harvard College. Prior to her graduate studies, she worked for a public health research organisation in New Delhi, India.
Director, Financial Management, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), Bangladesh
Dr. Md. Jahangir Rashid Colin, MBBS, BCS, DTCD, FCCP, is a seasoned pulmonologist and civil servant with a strong academic background and over three decades of experience. He currently serves as Director, Financial Management in the Directorate General of Medical Education (DGME) under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), Bangladesh.
In his previous role as Deputy Director and Programme Manager of Community-Based Health Care and Community Clinics, Directorate of Health Services (DGHS) under MoHFW, Dr. Rashid oversaw national respiratory health and non-communicable disease programs. In Chatmohar Upazila, he supervised subdistrict-level initiatives such as infectious disease control (e.g., TB, COVID), chronic disease screening, and strengthening rural health services — often in coordination with local Upazila Health Complexes.
Host
Research Director – Thrive Programme
Professor Susan Walker is a global leader in scaling programmes that improve children’s health and development in LMICs. She is the Research Director for the Thrive programme and Professor of Nutrition at the University of the West Indies, where she formerly led the Caribbean Institute for Health Research. She directs the Child Development Research Group and led the development and global expansion of Reach Up, an early childhood home-visiting programme now adapted in 18 countries and adopted nationally in Bangladesh, Jamaica, and Peru.
Her research has shaped global policy, including long-term follow-up of the Jamaica early stimulation trial showing adult gains in income, education, and mental health. She has contributed to major Lancet series and advised the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and WHO. She received the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research in 2007.
About the series
We know that investing in early childhood is transformative for both children and societies in low- and middle-income countries, but there are gaps in our knowledge about how to move from pilot to scale and how to ensure long-term quality.
The exchange of insights and ideas between researchers and policymakers is a vital part of bridging these gaps – ensuring that new research addresses the questions most relevant to national decision makers, and that early childhood development policies are grounded in evidence about what works at scale.
This discussion series from Thrive brings together policymakers, practitioners and researchers to explore the latest evidence related to scaling early childhood development programmes in low- and middle-income countries. Conversations will explore the key takeaways from research highlighted in the Thrive What to Read newsletter and delve into how new evidence can help to inform diverse policy and research agendas associated with scaling.
Attendees can take part in live Q&As with leading experts and be part of a growing community of knowledge shaping the future of early childhood development programming.
For the latest research related to designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating scalable early childhood development programmes in low- and middle-income countries subscribe to the monthly Thrive What to Read newsletter.
The Thrive 2025 scientific conference on scaling early childhood development programmes and policies in low- and middle-income countries, brought together early childhood development researchers, practitioners, funders and policymakers to exchange ideas. Revisit keynote presentations and other sessions from across the conference here.