The urban volunteer programme in Dhaka: a community based primary health care and research initiative

In response to a recognition that existing health facilities could not adequately reach the poorer sections of Dhaka city, the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) established the Urban Volunteer Programme in 1981. This paper describes the primary health care and research activities of this program and suggests that such an approach can be and should be used in other urban areas of developing countries.