Friendship

Social entrepreneur Runa Khan founded Friendship in 2002 to provide aid to poor people in remote communities in Bangladesh. By turning river barges into medical ships, Khan transformed how mobile health care could be executed in remote areas. The Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital was able to gain access to an area isolated by the nation's natural barriers — namely, the shifting river islands of the north and the coastal deltas of the Bay of Bengal. Fully equipped and staffed with volunteer medical and dental professionals, the floating hospital provides services including x-rays, surgery, primary care visits. 

Today, Friendship operates two hospital ships, plus health camps and clinics, as well as the land-based Friendship Hospital Shyamnagar in the water-logged southern region of Bangladesh. In two decades, Friendship Bangladesh has grown to launch initiatives outside the healthcare sphere, including programs focusing on education, disaster management, infrastructure development, good governance, sustainable economic development and cultural preservation.