Fighting TB on the Frontlines: Voices from the Ground

Mr. Mahmud (pseudonym), 59, the Tuberculosis & Leprosy Controller Assistant (TLCA) at one of the TB centers on the outskirts – a 70-kilometer drive from the capital Dhaka – reflecting on his journey in combating TB, asserted that if people stopped using tobacco products, the number of TB cases in his area could have been
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ARK’s SIMPLE Solution to the Urban Data Dearth

  By Abdullah Muhammad Rafi On December of 2022, the Government of Bangladesh declared its next major initiative – the Smart Bangladesh Initiative – with a view to building a Smart Nation by 2041. Government’s Aspire to Innovate (a2i) program defines a ‘smart nation’ as “harnessing emerging technologies, networks, and data to create tech-enabled solutions
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Urban Dispensaries and Primary Healthcare in Dhaka

By Umme Salma Anee, Masroor Salauddin, Sadika Afrin, Faiaz Chowdhury, Nabila Binte jahan, Deepa Barua and Rumana Huque, ARK Foundation, Bangladesh, and Helen Elsey, University of York Urban regions in Bangladesh are now more densely populated as a result of migration and industrialization. With a population rise of 3.26% from 2022 to 2023, Dhaka, the
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Urban Dispensaries and Primary Healthcare in Dhaka

By Umme Salma Anee, Masroor Salauddin, Sadika Afrin, Faiaz Chowdhury, Nabila Binth Jahan, Deepa Barua, Rumana Huque, Helen Elsey Urban regions in Bangladesh are now more densely populated as a result of migration and industrialization. With a population rise of 3.26% from 2022 to 2023, Dhaka, the country’s largest metropolis that is growing day by
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The Transgender Community and Disparities of Urban Health Care System: The Untold Stories

A transgender named Sumaiya (pseudonym) became sick while collecting money for a long time under the scorching heat of summer. She went to buy medicine from a road side drug store. While buying medicine, she heard many witticisms saying, ‘You also get sick!’ the drug sellers generally compel the transgenders to leave quickly as the
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Antimicrobial Resistance: An Overlooked Pandemic Threatening Our Economic Future

Have you ever wondered what would happen if no medicine were effective to treat illnesses, caused by bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites? I am sure you have never thought about it. But it could happen because of a process known as “Antimicrobial Resistance or AMR”. We will discuss about AMR later. First, let us familiarize
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Public Private Partnership in Improving Access and Utilization of Health Care Services: Scopes, Opportunities and Challenges

Improved quality and access to healthcare services are essential for a country’s development. Private sectors like NGOs, for-profit and non-profit organizations have significantly contributed to health by financing and managing healthcare services in different ways. Private sector, similar to other countries, brings technology, innovation, financing, and most importantly, additional health workforce – areas that public
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Men’s Health in Urban Bangladesh: Is the Urban Primary Healthcare System Leaving Men Behind?

Abdur Rahim (67) lazily passes his days at his shabby little home in Duwaripara slum. Being a retired day-laborer, he is now financially dependent on his wife’s and daughter’s income, both of whom work as part-time maids for several families in Pallabi, Dhaka. Rahim, sitting at a teastall with a bunch of his contemporaries, expresses
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CHORUS Blog: Important Yet Ignored: Non-Communicable Diseases in Urban Bangladesh

By Tahmid Hasan In Bangladesh, NCDs are estimated to account for 67% of all deaths. In low and middle-income countries, urbanization has been identified as one of the crucial underlying reasons for the increasing trends of NCDs. Bangladesh has also been experiencing rapid urbanization for the past two decades. The urban population of Bangladesh has increased
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Strengthening primary healthcare to achieve universal health coverage

By Rumana Huque The World Health Organisation (WHO) strongly promotes the primary care principles enshrined in the 1978 Alma Ata declaration which emphasises equity, inter-sectoral collaboration, access to essential drugs, appropriate health technology, and comprehensive care. A Primary Health Care (PHC) approach from a services delivery perspective can be characterised as primary care: the continuum
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