Health System in Bangladesh: Challenges and Opportunities

Anwar Islam; Tuhin Biswas

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ajhr.20140206.18

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Health System in Bangladesh: Challenges and Opportunities

Anwar Islam, Tuhin Biswas

Published in American Journal of Health Research (Volume 2, Issue 6)

Received: 29 October 2014 Accepted: 10 November 2014 Published: 20 November 2014

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Abstract

The health system of Bangladesh relies heavily on the government or the public sector for financing and setting overall policies and service delivery mechanisms. Although the health system is faced with many intractable challenges, it seems to receive little priority in terms of national resource allocation. According to the World Health Organization (WHO 2010) only about 3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is spent on health services. However, government expenditure on health is only about 34% of the total health expenditure (THE), the rest (66%) being out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses. Inequity, therefore, is a serious problem affecting the health care system. Based on a review of secondary data, the paper assesses the current challenges and opportunities of the health system in Bangladesh. The findings suggest that although the health system faces multifaceted challenges such as lack of public health facilities, scarcity of skilled workforce, inadequate financial resource allocation and political instability; Bangladesh has demonstrated much progress in achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) especially MDG 4 and MDG 5. Although the country has a growing private sector primarily providing tertiary level health care services, Bangladesh still does not have a comprehensive health policy to strengthen the entire health system. Clearly, the most crucial challenge is the absence of a dynamic and proactive stewardship able to design and enforce policies to further strengthen and enhance the overall health system. Such strong leadership could bring about meaningful and effective health system reform, which will work more efficiently for the betterment of the health of the people of Bangladesh, and would be built upon the values of equity and accountability.

Published in	American Journal of Health Research (Volume 2, Issue 6)
DOI	10.11648/j.ajhr.20140206.18
Page(s)	366-374
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2014. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Health System, Determinants of Health, Societal Response

References

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APA Style

Anwar Islam, Tuhin Biswas. (2014). Health System in Bangladesh: Challenges and Opportunities. American Journal of Health Research, 2(6), 366-374. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajhr.20140206.18

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Anwar Islam; Tuhin Biswas. Health System in Bangladesh: Challenges and Opportunities. Am. J. Health Res. 2014, 2(6), 366-374. doi: 10.11648/j.ajhr.20140206.18

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AMA Style

Anwar Islam, Tuhin Biswas. Health System in Bangladesh: Challenges and Opportunities. Am J Health Res. 2014;2(6):366-374. doi: 10.11648/j.ajhr.20140206.18

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@article{10.11648/j.ajhr.20140206.18,
  author = {Anwar Islam and Tuhin Biswas},
  title = {Health System in Bangladesh: Challenges and Opportunities},
  journal = {American Journal of Health Research},
  volume = {2},
  number = {6},
  pages = {366-374},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajhr.20140206.18},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajhr.20140206.18},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajhr.20140206.18},
  abstract = {The health system of Bangladesh relies heavily on the government or the public sector for financing and setting overall policies and service delivery mechanisms. Although the health system is faced with many intractable challenges, it seems to receive little priority in terms of national resource allocation. According to the World Health Organization (WHO 2010) only about 3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is spent on health services. However, government expenditure on health is only about 34% of the total health expenditure (THE), the rest (66%) being out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses. Inequity, therefore, is a serious problem affecting the health care system. Based on a review of secondary data, the paper assesses the current challenges and opportunities of the health system in Bangladesh. The findings suggest that although the health system faces multifaceted challenges such as lack of public health facilities, scarcity of skilled workforce, inadequate financial resource allocation and political instability; Bangladesh has demonstrated much progress in achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) especially MDG 4 and MDG 5. Although the country has a growing private sector primarily providing tertiary level health care services, Bangladesh still does not have a comprehensive health policy to strengthen the entire health system. Clearly, the most crucial challenge is the absence of a dynamic and proactive stewardship able to design and enforce policies to further strengthen and enhance the overall health system. Such strong leadership could bring about meaningful and effective health system reform, which will work more efficiently for the betterment of the health of the people of Bangladesh, and would be built upon the values of equity and accountability.},
 year = {2014}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Health System in Bangladesh: Challenges and Opportunities
AU  - Anwar Islam
AU  - Tuhin Biswas
Y1  - 2014/11/20
PY  - 2014
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajhr.20140206.18
DO  - 10.11648/j.ajhr.20140206.18
T2  - American Journal of Health Research
JF  - American Journal of Health Research
JO  - American Journal of Health Research
SP  - 366
EP  - 374
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-8796
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajhr.20140206.18
AB  - The health system of Bangladesh relies heavily on the government or the public sector for financing and setting overall policies and service delivery mechanisms. Although the health system is faced with many intractable challenges, it seems to receive little priority in terms of national resource allocation. According to the World Health Organization (WHO 2010) only about 3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is spent on health services. However, government expenditure on health is only about 34% of the total health expenditure (THE), the rest (66%) being out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses. Inequity, therefore, is a serious problem affecting the health care system. Based on a review of secondary data, the paper assesses the current challenges and opportunities of the health system in Bangladesh. The findings suggest that although the health system faces multifaceted challenges such as lack of public health facilities, scarcity of skilled workforce, inadequate financial resource allocation and political instability; Bangladesh has demonstrated much progress in achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) especially MDG 4 and MDG 5. Although the country has a growing private sector primarily providing tertiary level health care services, Bangladesh still does not have a comprehensive health policy to strengthen the entire health system. Clearly, the most crucial challenge is the absence of a dynamic and proactive stewardship able to design and enforce policies to further strengthen and enhance the overall health system. Such strong leadership could bring about meaningful and effective health system reform, which will work more efficiently for the betterment of the health of the people of Bangladesh, and would be built upon the values of equity and accountability.
VL  - 2
IS  - 6
ER  -

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Author Information

Anwar Islam

Adjunct Scientist and Consultant, Centre for Control of Chronic Diseases (CCCD), International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), Dhaka, Bangladesh
Tuhin Biswas

Research Officer, Centre for Control of Chronic Diseases (CCCD), International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), Dhaka, Bangladesh

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APA Style

Anwar Islam, Tuhin Biswas. (2014). Health System in Bangladesh: Challenges and Opportunities. American Journal of Health Research, 2(6), 366-374. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajhr.20140206.18

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ACS Style

Anwar Islam; Tuhin Biswas. Health System in Bangladesh: Challenges and Opportunities. Am. J. Health Res. 2014, 2(6), 366-374. doi: 10.11648/j.ajhr.20140206.18

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AMA Style

Anwar Islam, Tuhin Biswas. Health System in Bangladesh: Challenges and Opportunities. Am J Health Res. 2014;2(6):366-374. doi: 10.11648/j.ajhr.20140206.18

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ajhr.20140206.18,
  author = {Anwar Islam and Tuhin Biswas},
  title = {Health System in Bangladesh: Challenges and Opportunities},
  journal = {American Journal of Health Research},
  volume = {2},
  number = {6},
  pages = {366-374},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajhr.20140206.18},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajhr.20140206.18},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajhr.20140206.18},
  abstract = {The health system of Bangladesh relies heavily on the government or the public sector for financing and setting overall policies and service delivery mechanisms. Although the health system is faced with many intractable challenges, it seems to receive little priority in terms of national resource allocation. According to the World Health Organization (WHO 2010) only about 3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is spent on health services. However, government expenditure on health is only about 34% of the total health expenditure (THE), the rest (66%) being out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses. Inequity, therefore, is a serious problem affecting the health care system. Based on a review of secondary data, the paper assesses the current challenges and opportunities of the health system in Bangladesh. The findings suggest that although the health system faces multifaceted challenges such as lack of public health facilities, scarcity of skilled workforce, inadequate financial resource allocation and political instability; Bangladesh has demonstrated much progress in achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) especially MDG 4 and MDG 5. Although the country has a growing private sector primarily providing tertiary level health care services, Bangladesh still does not have a comprehensive health policy to strengthen the entire health system. Clearly, the most crucial challenge is the absence of a dynamic and proactive stewardship able to design and enforce policies to further strengthen and enhance the overall health system. Such strong leadership could bring about meaningful and effective health system reform, which will work more efficiently for the betterment of the health of the people of Bangladesh, and would be built upon the values of equity and accountability.},
 year = {2014}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Health System in Bangladesh: Challenges and Opportunities
AU  - Anwar Islam
AU  - Tuhin Biswas
Y1  - 2014/11/20
PY  - 2014
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajhr.20140206.18
DO  - 10.11648/j.ajhr.20140206.18
T2  - American Journal of Health Research
JF  - American Journal of Health Research
JO  - American Journal of Health Research
SP  - 366
EP  - 374
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-8796
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajhr.20140206.18
AB  - The health system of Bangladesh relies heavily on the government or the public sector for financing and setting overall policies and service delivery mechanisms. Although the health system is faced with many intractable challenges, it seems to receive little priority in terms of national resource allocation. According to the World Health Organization (WHO 2010) only about 3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is spent on health services. However, government expenditure on health is only about 34% of the total health expenditure (THE), the rest (66%) being out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses. Inequity, therefore, is a serious problem affecting the health care system. Based on a review of secondary data, the paper assesses the current challenges and opportunities of the health system in Bangladesh. The findings suggest that although the health system faces multifaceted challenges such as lack of public health facilities, scarcity of skilled workforce, inadequate financial resource allocation and political instability; Bangladesh has demonstrated much progress in achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) especially MDG 4 and MDG 5. Although the country has a growing private sector primarily providing tertiary level health care services, Bangladesh still does not have a comprehensive health policy to strengthen the entire health system. Clearly, the most crucial challenge is the absence of a dynamic and proactive stewardship able to design and enforce policies to further strengthen and enhance the overall health system. Such strong leadership could bring about meaningful and effective health system reform, which will work more efficiently for the betterment of the health of the people of Bangladesh, and would be built upon the values of equity and accountability.
VL  - 2
IS  - 6
ER  -

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