Bringing Healthcare Within Reach: Soowgood’s Mission to Transform Healthcare Access in Rural Bangladesh

Youth Co:Lab alumna Sanjida Alam, Founder of Soowgood, is on a mission to bridge the healthcare divide in Bangladesh.

Sanjida’s inspiration for Soowgood stems from her own deeply personal experience. When she was a baby, her family had to take her to India for treatment due to the lack of quality medical care in Bangladesh. Years later, she witnessed the heartbreaking loss of her cousin’s three-year-old baby—born with the same heart condition she once had—because of inadequate healthcare access. Determined to change this reality, Sanjida spent months in rural Bangladesh, where she saw firsthand how patients travel long distances just to see a doctor, often facing misdiagnosis and unnecessary expenses due to the absence of a proper referral system.

These experiences fueled her commitment to building Soowgood, a digital health platform designed to make quality healthcare accessible to underserved rural communities. By leveraging AI technology and a human-centric approach, Soowgood provides a seamless healthcare journey—from consultation to treatment—ensuring that no patient is left behind.

“We want qualified doctors to be available whenever and wherever a patient needs them,” Sanjida emphasizes. Her words echo the frustration of millions of rural residents who struggle to access reliable medical care due to geographical, financial, and systemic barriers.

Tackling the Healthcare Gap in Rural Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, where 78% of the population lives in rural areas while 85% of the country’s qualified doctors reside in urban centers, healthcare accessibility remains a critical challenge. Bangladeshis spend $1.5 billion out of pocket on healthcare annually, yet many lack guidance on which doctor to consult. The absence of a nationwide referral system often leads to trial-and-error medical decisions, resulting in misdiagnoses, high costs, and even medical malpractice.

Soowgood’s solution directly addresses this disparity by connecting patients in remote areas with experienced doctors through video consultations. In just 5 minutes, a patient can access a licensed doctor, receive an e-prescription, and even schedule medicine delivery - all without leaving their village.

Empowering Communities Through Innovation

At the core of Soowgood’s model is an innovative network of local agents—trusted community members equipped with smart devices and internet access. These agents assist patients in navigating digital consultations, bridging the gap for those with limited technical literacy. For doctors, Soowgood offers cloud-based tools that streamline practice management, enhance diagnosis accuracy through a digital trail of medical history, and expand their reach to underserved populations.

Soowgood’s impact has been transformative:

• 50,000 lives have been positively affected across 181 villages in eight months.

• 5,000 patients have been successfully treated.

• Patients cumulatively saved 220,740 minutes of travel time and $10,612.79 in secondary medical costs.

• 600 new jobs have been created, improving economic opportunities for women, the elderly, and other vulnerable groups.

Behind Soowgood’s success is not only innovation but also the power of community-driven support systems. Sanjida’s journey as a social entrepreneur was further accelerated through her participation in Springboard ELEVATE, which is designed to uplift changemakers leading impact-driven solutions.

Sanjida is an alumna of the 2024 cohort of Springboard ELEVATE by Youth Co:Lab, an initiative co-led by UNDP and Citi Foundation. Springboard ELEVATE is a fellowship that supports purpose-driven social entrepreneurs who lead impact projects to improve the lives of under-represented communities. Through Springboard ELEVATE, Sanjida boosted her confidence in applying for global opportunities, received support on intellectual property, marketing and established partnership with Youth Co:Lab alumni to provide primary health for the Indigenous communities in Hill Tracks.

“Youth Co:Lab, co-led by UNDP and Citi Foundation, gave us the tools to better understand rural healthcare challenges and create meaningful impact. Through their guidance, we learned how to tailor Soowgood’s marketing towards educating communities on the value of remote consultations with qualified doctors.” — Sanjida Alam, Founder of Soowgood

To Sanjida, inclusive entrepreneurship means designing solutions that reflect the diverse needs and perspectives of all stakeholders - patients, agents, doctors, and the wider healthcare community. Soowgood exemplifies this ethos by fostering collaboration and prioritizing user-driven innovation to advance health equity to improve the lives across underserved communities.

As Soowgood plans to scale operations to 10,000 villages across Bangladesh, Sanjida actively seeks pre-seed investment to make this vision a reality. “We welcome visionary investors to join us in creating a lasting impact on marginalized populations and redefining the future of healthcare,” she says passionately.

-----------------

Co-created in 2017 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Citi Foundation, Youth Co:Lab aims to establish a common agenda for countries in the Asia-Pacific region to empower and invest in youth so that they can accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through leadership, social innovation, and entrepreneurship. Read more about Youth Co:Lab here.