Bangladesh's Shehleena bestowed with 'Order of the British Empire'

Dr Shehlina Ahmed has decided to go on voluntary retirement from her job. All the things she should have done, but couldn’t do because of her job responsibilities, she will do now.

Just as her to-do list includes travelling, there’s spending time with family as well. She will start reading the books she couldn’t manage time to read until now. However, she says, despite quitting her job, she won’t stay away from work. She just will be working on her own terms.

Shehlina Ahmed is the top advisor at the health department of the British High Commission in Dhaka. She has been working in the health division of British donor agency Department for International Development (DFID) for 13 years.

While holding that position, she worked as the head of ‘Donor Consortium’, a platform of donors. Not just to the health ministry or the health department, Shehlina is a well-known name not just in the health ministry or the health department, but among the public health experts of the country as well.

Dr Shehlina was saying, “I would work 16 to 17 hours a day at one time. I took office work home too. Despite being attentive towards my husband and sons, I couldn’t spend time with them. It was my husband who took care of the household.”

However she recalled, despite such a busy schedule they maintained the tradition of dining together every night for a long time. In fact, she used to enquire about her sons’ academic progress and help them on different topics if necessary, at the dinner table. Both of her sons live in the US now.

Shehlina Ahmed was born in Dhaka, although her paternal home was in Feni. Her father Shamsuddin Ahmed was a group captain in the air force. Shehlina spent her school life in Pakistan owing to her father’s job.

After independence she finished her intermediate studies from Holy Cross College and took admission into Dhaka Medical College. She got married after getting her MBBS degree. Her husband Md Nasrullah is also a physician by profession.

In 1985, the couple moved to Iran. Both her sons were born in Iran. Her sons were facing education difficulties in Iran so they moved back to Bangladesh in 1991.

Shehlina Ahmed said, “Upon returning home, I took a MPH degree in public health from National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM).”

“Then I started working on reproductive health at Bangladesh institute of Reproductive Health Research and Training. That’s where I started travelling to different villages across Bangladesh,” she added.

Meanwhile, she received a postgraduate degree from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She gained experience in delivering health services to inaccessible areas while working at Plan International.

She said, “I noticed the strange mindset of Bangladeshi women. Mothers take their ailing children to the health centres, travelling long ways. But whenever the mother herself falls sick, she is reluctant to even tell anyone , let alone go to health centre.”

In 1998, the government took an initiative of delivering healthcare to people’s doorsteps by establishing the community clinic. Plan International assisted the health ministry in making the community clinic programme effective. Dr Shehlina had the key role in this.

Shehlina Ahmed went to Thailand and stayed there from 2005 to mid-2008, as the regional head of Plan International. Sitting in Bangkok, she used to monitor and supervise activities going on in ten countries.

She gathered experience of working with people from different countries while working there. Thus, she got the opportunity to learn about the healthcare system of different countries, diverse initiatives and programmes taken by the government of those countries.

After returning home from there, she worked with UNICEF for a while. In 2009, she joined British donor agency DFID, which is a longstanding development partner of Bangladesh in the health sector. She was the head of DFID’s health division for more than a decade. For this, she received recognition from the British monarch.

Along with military and civil citizens of UK, ‘Order of the Empire’ award is bestowed upon foreign persons as well for their accomplishments. There are five divisions of the award. Dr Shehlina Ahmed was awarded the title of ‘Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE)’.

When asked for which accomplishment did she receive the award, she said, “Basically, two of my services were given the most priority. First, my role in introducing the midwifery service in Bangladesh and second, being able to help Bangladesh government in combating corona pandemic by working with swiftness.”

Dr Shehlina has had experience of witnessing rural people’s, especially rural women’s, health problems up close. From that experience, she took initiatives of solving those difficulties.

She advised the government on how to improve the quality of healthcare being the representative of different NGOs and donor agencies. Similarly she also gave expert opinion on how to make the healthcare system even stronger.

During the corona pandemic period, Shehlina Ahmed worked to bridge the gap between the government and donor society.

She said, “I know, how the health ministry or the government works. I understand the culture of donors as well. So, it was easier for me to mediate on various issues."