Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Dr Margaret Chan has praised Bangladesh for its outstanding performance on evolving a pluralistic healthcare system. In her speech at the Ministerial Meeting on ‘United Health Coverage’ in Singapore, Margaret Chan quoted from the Lancet magazine and said Bangladesh has made tremendous strides in different health indicators like survival of under-5, immunisation, and tuberculosis control, said a Foreign Ministry media release here on Tuesday. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong inaugurated the meeting. Despite its resource constraints, Bangladesh has successfully evolved a pluralistic healthcare system that combines government and NGO efforts that emphasising the role of women in delivering action on its health indicators such as family planning, immunisation, oral rehydration, therapy, vitamin A supplements, she said. Margaret Chan also referred to Bangladesh’s success in achieving gender equity.
The WHO DG was also full of praise for the country’s distinct acknowledgment and support of women to national development. Quoting the Lancet report, she said Bangladesh healthcare system has been successful in addressing the first generation of poverty-linked infections, nutritional and maternity related diseases. Representatives from over 15 selected countries, including Health Ministers from Bangladesh, Brunei, Finland, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, and High officials from Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and South Korea, are attending the meeting being held with the theme ‘Universal Health Coverage – the post-2015 Challenges’.
The meeting includes a ministerial roundtable and a panel session on Infrastructure, Manpower and Financing for UHC, Social Determinants of UHC, Challenges for Ageing and Fiscal Sustainability, and Non-communicable diseases and UHC.
Bangladesh Health Minister Mohammad Nasim thanked the WHO DG for acknowledging the successes achieved by Bangladesh in its healthcare system.
