About Me

Over ten years of my public health career in the areas of reproductive, maternal, neonatal, and child health (RMNCH) predominantly focused on strengthening the health services delivery in primary healthcare settings in Bangladesh. This includes improvement of routine health information systems, generating evidence through conducting operations research, contributing to developing national health system strengthening strategies, and catalyzing policy changes.

Education

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Obtained a Master of Medical Science (in International Health) degree from Uppsala University, Sweden in 2011. In 2004, I completed a Bachelor of Science with Honors (in Occupational Therapy) from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Experince

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Research

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Currently, I am working as an Assistant Scientist in the Maternal and Child Health Division at icddr,b. Before holding the current position, I worked as a Senior Research Investigator in 2015-18, as Research Investigator in 2012-15, and as Research Fellow in 2011-12 in the same division at icddr,b. During a decade of experience in public health research, I have been exposed to planning, designing, implementing, and evaluating research projects/activities. Following are some of the key areas I have worked in –

• Effectiveness of community-based interventions for sick newborns
• Improving data-driven decision making for RMNCH service delivery at the primary healthcare settings
• Exploring effective infomation channel/s in getting birth and death notifications at the rural settings
• Assessing licensing status of private facilities
• Identification of newborn signal functions for effective service delivery
• Evaluating RMNCH mHealth soultions
• Exploring feasibility of using routine data to estimate maternal deaths
• Desinging and implementing non-communicable service delivery with mHealth solutions

Academic

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In 2006-09, I worked as a Lecturer in Occupational Therapy at the Bangladesh Health Professions’ Insitute (BHPI) – an academic institute of Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) affiliated under the Unversity of Dhaka. Currently, I am involved with academic work as an external examiner for an undergraduate research course at BHPI.

Clinical

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Following one year Internship in Neurology, and Paediatric units, I worked as a Clinical Occupational Therapist in CRP during 2005-06.

Training received

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• Statistical modeling made easy, 14-30 November 2021, organized by icddr,b, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Quantitative Research Methods, AusAID, University of Melbourne, Australia
• Teching methodology – facilitated by Centre for Medical Education, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Project Cycle Management – organized by CRP, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• STATA – organized by icddr,b, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Ethics in Bio-Medical Research – organized by icddr,b, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Proposal and Grant Writing – organized by icddr,b, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Litrature search – organized by icddr,b, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• EndNote – organized by icddr,b, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Workshop/Seminar attended

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• Expert meeting on monitoring inter-sectoral factors influencing equity-oriented progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and health equity, 2014, WHO, Bellagio, Italy
• Measurement and Accountability for Health in Bangladesh, 2016, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• International conference on Data for Decision in health, 2017, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• International Conference on Public Health 2017 (ICOPH 2017), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• 5th Global Symposium in Health Systems Research, 2018, Liverpool, UK
• International Conference on Big Data for Health, 2019, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• 2^nd International Symposium on CHW, 2019, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• 15th Asian Conference on Diarrhoeal Disease and Nutrition (ASCODD), 2020, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• 6^th Global Symposium in Health Systems Research, 2020, Dubai (virtual format)

Affiliations

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• Member of Bangladesh Occupational Therapy Association
• Editorial member of Bangladesh Journal of Occupational Therapy and Rehabilitation

Publications

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Journal Articles

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• Chowdhury SK, Billah SM, Arifeen SE, Hoque DME (2018) Care-seeking practices for sick neonates: Findings from cross-sectional survey in 14 rural sub-districts of Bangladesh. PLoS ONE 13 (9): e0204902. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0204902.
• Tazeen Tahsina, Afrin Iqbal, Ahmed Ehsanur Rahman, Suman Kanti Chowdhury, Tanvir Huda, Atique Iqbal Chowdhury, Masum Billah, Ataur Rahman, Lubana Ahmed, Qazi Sadeq-ur Rahman, Shah Ali Akbar Ashrafi, Shams El Arifeen. Birth and Death Notification for improving Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS): An innovation from Rural Bangladesh (pre-print).
• Karar Zunaid Ahsan, Tazeen Tahsina, Afrin Iqbal, Nazia Binte Ali, Suman Kanti Chowdhury, Tanvir M. Huda & Shams El Arifeen (2017) Production and use of estimates for monitoring progress in the health sector: the case of Bangladesh, Global Health Action, 10:sup1, 1298890, DOI: 10.1080/16549716.2017.1298890.
• Lindstrom-Hazel D, Aeyman U, Hossain SS, Nayan MJ, Chowdhury SK, Rector J, et al. A normative study of the Nine Hole Peg Test in Bangladesh. Work. 2015;50(3):403–9.
• Ullah MM, Sarker A, Chowdhury SK. Assessment for returning to work after spinal cord injuries and patient’s vocational preferences. Work. 2015;50(3):387–93.
• Akter S, Maruf MZU, Chowdhury SK. Prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms and associated factors: A cross-sectional study of metal workers in Bangladesh. Work. 2015;50(3):363–70.

Manuscripts (unpublished)

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• Tanvir M Huda, Suman Kanti Chowdhury, Jatan Bhowmick, Sabrina Sharmin Priyanka, Mohammad Sohel Shomik, Qazi Sadequr Rahman, Mizanur Rahman, Ishtiaq Mannan, Shams El Arifeen. Impact of community-based integrated management of severe neonatal illnesses in rural Bangladesh: a quasi-experimental study.

Reports

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• Kabir H, Chowdhury SK. Seminar on Strengthening the Routine Health Information System of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in Bangladesh. MEASURE Evaluation. 2015.
• National guideline on MPDSR. Health economics unit, Ministry of health and family welfare. 2016
• Tablet PC training manual for Health Assistant. Management Information System Unit of Directorate General of Health Services. 2014.
• Training manual on ICD 10 for doctor, nurse, and statistician. Management Information System Unit of Directorate General of Health Services. 2013.
• DHIS2 data entry guideline. Management Information System Unit of Directorate General of Health Services. 2013.
• Community Health Care Provider computer training manual. Management Information System Unit of Directorate General of Health Services. 2013.

Conference abstracts/posters

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• Suman Kanti Chowdhury, Md Humayun Kabir, Joby George, Shams El Arifeen, Digitized Routine Health Information System of primary health workers is paving the way of monitoring the progress towards achieving SDG3 in Bangladesh, 6^th Global Symposium in Health Systems Research, 2020, Dubai, virtual format
• Suman Kanti Chowdhury, Md Humayun Kabir, Mohammad Golam Kibria, Joby George, Shams El Arifeen, eHealth/mHealth Solutions for Community Health Workers in Bangladesh to Address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 2nd CHW Symposium, 2019, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Suman Kanti Chowdhury, Md Humayun Kabir, Joby George, Jamil Anwar Zaman, Tariq Azim, Reza Ali Rumi, Mohammad Golam Kibria, Shams El Arifeen, Satellite session on using eHealth/mHealth Solutions by Community Health Workers in Bangladesh to address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 5th Global Symposium in Health Systems Research, 2018, Liverpool, UK
• Chowdhury SK, Kabir MH, George J, Arifeen SE, digitizing service delivery process of government health workers in Bangladesh: a journey towards comprehensive eMIS, ICOPH 2017, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• Suman Kanti Chowdhury, Transforming service delivery process of government health workers and promoting data-driven decision making through digital innovations in Bangladesh, International conference on data for decision in health, 2017, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
• Chowdhury SK, Huda TM, Sayem ASM, Dey P, and Arifeen SE, Weaknesses and Opportunities of RHIS in Bangladesh. 3rd Global Symposium on Health Systems Research. Cape Town. 2014.