The Hidden Tax on Health: Why Diabetes is Bankrupting Bangladesh’s Families

Written by: Sirat-E-Rowshan Islam (Research Uptake and Communication Officer) Mira Bala (pseudonym), a 45-year-old mother of three, living in a small village in a district town with limited healthcare facilities, makes a calculation every morning how many blood sugar test strips she can afford this week. If she buys the full insulin prescription, her eldest daughter’s
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OP-ED: Universal Health Coverage needs more than a bigger budget. It needs institutions and skills

As the nation is heading towards its 13th national election, the long queue of people’s demands is lining up behind all the competitive political parties. Health sector experts are also sharing their demands across various platforms, and one common question that has repeatedly been raised and debated is what strategy the newly elected government will
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স্বাস্থ্য খাতে সমতা নিশ্চিত করা জরুরি

প্রফেসর ডঃ রুমানা হক বৈশ্বিক স্বাস্থ্য সূচকে বাংলাদেশ আজ একটি উজ্জ্বল উদাহরণ। দুই দশক আগেও প্রতি লাখ শিশু জন্ম দিতে মারা যেতেন চার শতাধিক মা, এখন তা কমে এসেছে অর্ধেকের বেশি। নবজাতকের মৃত্যুও প্রতি হাজারে ৪৪ থেকে কমে ২০-এ নেমে এসেছে। স্বাস্থ্য খাতে বাংলাদেশের এই অর্জন কোনো একক প্রকল্পের ফল নয়। সত্তরের দশকে পরিবার পরিকল্পনা
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The Need for Multisectoral Collaboration in the Urban Health Sector

Find PDF version here While speaking about the strengthening of the health systems, one area where discussions often get stuck is the collaboration among all the parties involved. Now, this point – no matter how simple and straightforward it may seem – is something that continues to slither through the country’s efforts to build a
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Op-Ed: Ensuring equity in health sector

By Professor Rumana Huque & Abdullah M. Rafi Bangladesh today stands as a shining example in global health sector. Two decades ago, more than 400 mothers died for every 100,000 live births; that figure has now fallen by more than half. Similarly, neonatal mortality has dropped from 44 per thousand to 20. This achievement is
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Safeguarding and Gender in Public Health Research: Reflections from the Field

Abdullah M. Rafi, Samina Huque Read PDF here   Safeguarding has increasingly become a central concern in public health research. At ARK Foundation, we see it not just as a set of rules, but as a commitment to ensuring the safety and dignity of everyone, spanning from researchers to office staff, across every stage of
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Harnessing mHealth to End TB: A Digital Prescription for a Persistent Challenge

Abdullah Muhammad Rafi, Shakhawat Hossain Rana Read PDF here Let’s start the story with a few numbers. First of all, every year, 379,000 people in Bangladesh are newly affected by Tuberculosis, that’s more than 1,000 cases a day, and out of the almost four hundred thousand patients, more than 44,000 people die each year. Imagine
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How Active are the Residents of Dhaka? Perceptions and Challenges in Maintaining Physical Activity in Urban Bangladesh

By Umme Salma Anee, CHORUS Research Assistant, ARK Foundation To implement a CHORUS Innovation Fund project in Bangladesh, the team at ARK Foundation has been working with a diverse range of stakeholders, including policy makers, community leaders, teachers, Imams, youth groups, adolescents, guardians, pregnant women, elderly women, and people with physical challenges, to address barriers
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OP-ED: Between Progress and Pitfalls: Fixing Bangladesh’s Urban Health Crisis

 By Abdullah M. Rafi (published in The Business Standard on 15 May, 2025) Bangladesh, one of the fastest-growing economies in the world according to the World Bank, has identified health as both a priority and a persistent challenge. Article 15(a) of the country’s constitution reflects this commitment by guaranteeing healthcare as a fundamental right for
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World Tuberculosis Day: Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an mHealth intervention (mTB-Tobacco) for smoking cessation in people with tuberculosis (Quit4TB Trial)

By Ai Keow Lim, Fahmidur Rahman & Maham Zahid  What is TB and how smoking impacts TB Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infection spread through respiratory droplets dispersed into the air, when someone with TB coughs and sneezes. Smoking increases the chances of contracting TB infection and TB disease. TB patients who smoke are more
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