How can we bridge the healthcare gap between urban and rural Bangladesh?

Professor Dr. Rumana Huque, Executive Director of ARK Foundation, sheds light on the key prospects and challenges in addressing these inequalities. Discover her insights on how we can work together to bridge the gap and ensure equitable healthcare for all.
Read more
No Comments

Webinar on Tobacco Cessation in Health Systems: Policy, Research & Reality

Experts Urge Stronger Tobacco Cessation Services in Bangladesh’s Health System ARK Foundation hosted a webinar titled “Tobacco Cessation in Health Systems: Policy, Research & Reality”, bringing together experts and participants from academia, advocacy groups, and research organizations, including international researchers. The event explored the status, challenges, and opportunities for integrating tobacco cessation into Bangladesh’s health
Read more
No Comments

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
Read more
No Comments

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
Read more
No Comments

Roundtable on ‘Health Budget FY2025-26: Expectations and Realities’

PDF Version The health sector is facing major budgetary challenges due to flawed preparation processes that fail to identify priorities, leading to insufficient fund allocation and poor utilization, experts said. They also said there is a lack of managerial efficiency, as well, in implementing health budget. these insights were shared at a roundtable discussion titled
Read more
No Comments

Low budget or management flaws? Experts flag inefficiency in health spending

PDF Version Highlights: Flawed preparation blamed for failing to identify priorities Despite potential, primary healthcare underfunded Managerial inefficiency hampers fund utilisation NCDs underprioritised despite rising deaths Women, child health budget cut again Need skilled managers, better planning Private sector unregulated, inequitable care Budget usually slashed significantly in revisions The health sector is facing major budgetary
Read more
No Comments

Trapped by Tobacco: The Industry’s Grip and Our Responsibility

Fahmida Farzana PDF Version Tobacco kills more than 8 million people each year. To make up these “lost consumers”, the industry goes after the youth as their next target. Today’s young people are the next generation of “lifelong customers”, and most tobacco users start smoking before they become adults. Over time, tobacco companies’ tactics to
Read more
No Comments

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
Read more
No Comments

দেশের ৪২.৭ শতাংশ জনগোষ্ঠী পরোক্ষ ধুমাপানের শিকার

Originally published in The Daily Kaler Kantho on February 07, 2025. Read the full report here.
Read more
No Comments

Experts urge policy reforms to strengthen urban health systems in Bangladesh

  Health policymakers, researchers, and development partners gathered in Dhaka to discuss challenges and prospects for urban health in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The policy dialogue, titled Strengthening Urban Health Systems: Prospects & Challenges, was organized by ARK Foundation Bangladesh and BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health on Thursday (30 January 2025).
Read more
No Comments