Bangladesh is fast gearing up to meet its healthcare challenges.A wide health care network is being developed which would cover the whole country.The government is working towards building a healthy nation.Ensuring primary healthcare and achieving the Millennium Development Goals are the government's priority, says Prime Minister Sheikh.
Speaking at the inauguration of health ministers' conference of WHO Southeast Asia region she said that health was one of the key determinants to ensure the overall well-being of people.
If the mother is healthy , then children will be also healthy.That's why the government has attached special importance to health of women and children and will implementing schemes to achieve that, said the prime minister.
Since the nation has ensured food and nutrition security for low income group, the poverty rate has come down to 25 per cent from 40 percent in 2005.
More than 13,000 community clinics are being operated across Bangladesh with trained health workers equipped with laptops and internet connection enabling services like e-health and telemedicine, said the prime minister.
Bangladesh’s overall health achievements won plaudits from WHO director general Margaret Chan.
The WHO’s South-East Asia regional countries have much to learn from Bangladesh,she pointed out .
She praised Bangladesh’s overall health achievements and described its health leadership as “inspiring” that could serve as a lesson for other countries of the region.
Chan said Bangladesh’s “stunning rise” in the overall health status and life expectancy had been internationally documented. And it overcame many challenges the country had faced, she said.
“The countries of the Region have much to learn from the rich experience and inspiring health leadership of Bangladesh.”, she said
Over the past 40 years, Bangladesh has outperformed its Asian neighbours, convincingly defying the view that reducing poverty and increasing health resources are the key drivers of better population health, said an expert. Since 1980 maternal mortality has dropped by 75 per cent, while infant mortality has more than halved since 1990, and life expectancy has increased to 68.3 years – surpassing neighbouring India and Pakistan,
Progress in infant, child and maternal mortality has been particularly striking, with an unprecedented reversal in the number of deaths among girls compared with boys. Maternal mortality was reduced from 574 deaths per 100,000 livebirths in 1991 to 194 deaths in 2010.
Tuberculosis treatment is another success. Through mass deployment of community health workers, the number of people cured rose from less than 50 per cent to more than 90 per cent among the highest in the world. Another is contraceptive use. By recruiting female health workers to deliver door-to-door family planning services, Bangladesh has achieved high (62 per cent) contraceptive prevalence and a dramatic fall in birth rates, from an average 6.3 births per woman in 1971 to 2.3 in 2010 – a rate unparalleled in other countries with similar levels of development.
According to a Lancet study, the empowerment of women and the reach of NGOs have contributed to Bangladesh's remarkable success in healthcare, which has included significant improvements in the survival of under-fives, immunisation coverage and tuberculosis control.
The achievements are in spite of low spending on healthcare, a weak health system and widespread poverty. Bangladesh's health success has come despite its low gross domestic product of $101.9 billion. The nation of 153 million people ranks in the lowest income group of countries, on a par with neighbours Nepal and Cambodia.
Yet, Bangladesh's life expectancy is superior to that of other countries in the region, except Nepal. Bangladesh's infant mortality, under-fives mortality and maternal mortality rates are also better than other countries in the region. Bangladesh is ahead of Pakistan in all education and health indicators. But there are caveats. Despite improved survival rates, nearly half of children in the country have chronic malnutrition, a problem shared with India, which also has a high prevalence of child and maternal malnutrition.
Not all health indicators are positive, particularly child malnutrition. The rates of underweight in children from the poorest families fell from 59 per cent in 2004 to 50 per cent in 2010. Even in the wealthiest quintile, 21 per cent of children were underweight in 2010.
The data underlines the complexity of malnutrition, where factors range from poverty and hunger, low rates of breastfeeding, inadequate care and complementary feeding, and recurrent infections. Paradoxically, there is a rising incidence of obesity, a phenomenon noted elsewhere in poorer countries, including China and India.
The Lancet attributes Bangladesh's success to a "pluralistic" health system pulling in government and NGOs that emphasised the role of women in delivering action on family planning, immunisation, oral rehydration therapy, tuberculosis and vitamin A supplementation. The role of gender equity, including the widespread education of girls, was noted in the report.
At the same time Bangladesh is having a vibrant pharmaceuticals industry. Almost 97 percent of the local demand is met by domestic production. Pharmaceuticals products are being exported to 87 countries including the US and UK.
Focus on producing quality products by strictly following international standards and favourable government policy has helped Bangladesh to increase pharma exports.Demand for Bangladesh products is growing every year. Especially demand for Bangladeshi pharma products is growing in Asia, Africa and European markets.
Pharma exports rose around 24 percent year-on-year to $59.82 million in fiscal 2012-13 thanks to a growing demand for Bangladeshi medicines in Southeast Asia, Asia Pacific and Africa.
The sector's growth is phenomenal given the fact that 20 years ago, 75 per cent of Bangladesh's pharmaceutical products were imported. Now, 97 per cent of Bangladesh's need is produced locally.
According to International Marketing Services (IMS), Bangladesh's domestic pharmaceuticals market grew nearly 13 per cent to $250 million in 2013.The country's pharma market has created around one lakh jobs.
In addition, per the Commerce Ministry's Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh now exports to about 85 countries including Austria, Denmark, the UK, Germany, France, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brazil, Pakistan, Burma and Yemen.
According to the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA), 194 of 275 government-registered pharmaceutical companies regularly produce items like cough syrup and flu tablets. Square, Incepta, Beximco, Acme, and Eskayef account for 45 per cent of Bangladesh's total production, manufacturing products for export in state-of the-art factories.
Companies like the UK's GlaxoSmithKline, Switzerland's Novartis and France's Sanofi have set up plants producing life-saving vaccines, anti-cancer drugs and other high-end products in Bangladesh.
Industry growth has created employment opportunities – including for pharmacists, chemists, microbiologists and doctors – that pay well enough to keep professionals from going overseas.
Bangladesh is also trying to establish an industrial park for pharmaceutical production.One such park in Munshiganj near Dhaka is nearing completion and the country is hoping to see a big jump in its income from pharmaceutical exports, according to an expert.
Since the actual potential is even higher, the country needs to improve its infrastructure and capabilities and the manufacturers should have adequate support from the government to realise that potential,says an official from a leading pharma company.
Local companies are working to establish their brands in different international markets such as South Asia, Africa, Latin America and the EU, he added.
Recently Sri Lanka has turned its attention to import medicines from Bangladesh. The move is aimed at reducing Sri Lanka's dependence on India, which currently supplies 70 to 80 per cent of its drugs. Sri Lanka turned to Bangladesh for the "high quality and low price" of drugs made there, Sirisena said.