UNLEASH — Translating Ideas Into Action
How do you change something? Anything? Which one of these three do you require to initiate the change in question- a new perspective, strong motivation or the possession of power?
One would simply say that we need all of them. But in reality, what you need and what you have- ultimately defines the whole world and everyone in it. When you are born and bred in a third world country, somehow you get adapted to the fact that things like poverty and hunger will always be out there. The discrimination between rich and poor, the struggle to protect the thin wall between life and death, and that blurry line between ‘hoping for’ and actually ‘doing’ something- become some of the conflicting issues which you learn to put aside for the sake of going on with your life. I, myself, am guilty of turning a blind eye to my surrounding circumstances for a certain period of my life. Having the privilege of being raised in an educated and well-resolved family, I could not really apprehend the sufferings of those people around me, who were being pushed to the disadvantaged part of the society just because they were born there. But my medical school days began to make me understand their struggle and eventually changed the course of my life to a different direction.
I am Faojia Sultana, a medical grad from Bangladesh. Currently, I am pursuing my Master’s degree in Global Health and Development at University College London. I have also worked as a research fellow for a year and a half at the ‘International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease, Research, Bangladesh’ (icddr,b) in between my studies. My pursuit towards gaining advanced expertise in health and development sector was driven by the urge to help bring real changes in the vulnerable and inequitable health sector of Bangladesh. I have been nurturing a set of theoretical solutions to achieve that goal, but I have not yet been in the spot to be able to verify their practicality and implications in a realistic setup. Fortunately, the soon-to-be launched ‘UNLEASH Innovation Lab’ in Denmark is going to provide me with the blissful opportunity to work with an enormously talented pool of young leaders from all over the world, who possess the similar motivation to help make the world a better place through their works and ideas. I feel extremely privileged to be a part of the Founding Class of UNLEASH, 2017, where I will be joining this class of SDG talents in co-creating innovative solutions for SDGs (Sustainable Development Goal) together.
Before starting my medical school, I did not realize to which extent the regressive health system of my country is preventing people from obtaining their basic health needs. It is true that Bangladesh has achieved some mentionable success in some of their health indicators over the years, but we are still far away from achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for our people. Our ‘user-fee’ dependent health system is arguably posing the greatest obstacle in the way, with lack of resources and poor governance constantly hindering the progress towards a sustainable health system for years now. I have witnessed the vulnerability of our health system on a firsthand basis during my internship days in a government hospital. I have worked there for a year and the number of gravely ill patients who had to leave the hospital without treatment because they could not pay for their treatment was, in one word, countless. The constraint of resources paired with the deeply rooted corruption at every possible level of hospital management cost so many people their lives and yet no significant action has been implemented by the authorities in charge to change that scenario over the years. Every day I had to write quite a few ‘Discharge on request’ bonds for patients, despite knowing the fact very well that without immediate treatment they would fall on the fate of death soon.
But as a doctor, my role was frightfully limited. Neither did I have the resources, nor the authority to change those dire circumstances. My perspectives on life and reality was changing, but I felt powerless. That is why I decided to gain academic expertise on global health and development through my post-grad degree, in order to explore and understand the depth of complications from both supply and demand side perspectives of a health system. So that instead of just ‘hoping’, I can begin to do something to ensure UHC for each and every citizen of my country.
But a balanced multi-sectoral co-ordination and a strong support system are the prerequisites for sustainable development in any sector of a country, health sector of Bangladesh not being an exception. And I believe SDGs can play a crucial role here. Because in a country like Bangladesh where policy and planning sector lack optimal level of efficiency and comprehensiveness, international agendas such as SDGs act as a guidance tool towards achieving national developmental goals. And UNLEASH has been set out to assist the world actively in achieving SDG targets by bringing together 1K chosen millennials from all sectors to create solutions for the world. Thereby, I am thrilled to be able to collaborate with the intellectual, highly accomplished and culturally diverse young talents from all around the world in the platform of UNLEASH. We are yet to see the results, but even at this point, UNLEASH has garnered two unique accomplishments. One, they are doing the impossible of creating a common platform to formulate and implement innovative ideas at a global level by bringing together young representatives from 129 countries of the world and two, this year will not be the end of UNLEASH, instead they will continue to thrive in the coming years in persuasion of the success of SDGs globally, with the aims of becoming much stronger and polished with each year.
As I have mentioned in the beginning that one need perspective, motivation and power to bring changes in the world. I deeply believe, UNLEASH is going to provide us with the perfect platform to combine all of these three elements in the same pot. Meeting and working together with all of these accomplished young leaders will provide me with newer and brighter perspectives on problems that I have been working on to find the best solutions for. Our united effort to co-create solutions for SDGs will act as the greatest motivation for me to take the learning and experiences from this journey further ahead of UNLEASH. And finally, my source of power will lie in being an active part of this global platform with this energetic, intelligent, purpose-driven young change-makers of the world. And as a member of the Founding Class of UNLEASH, I am looking forward to contribute with my best of knowledge, experience and efforts along with my fellow participants to win the battle for SDGs against every obstacle in the foreseeable future.
