The day-long event brought together the government, civil society organizations and members, academia, media and development partners for advancing UHC in Bangladesh. The State Minister for Health Mr Zahid Maleque was present at the opening session while the closing session was attended by the Minsiter for Health Mr Mohammed Nasim. The Minister in his speech said that it would be very difficult to implement UHC in Bangladesh with its limited resouces but the government must try its best to achieve this. WHO Representative to Bangladesh Dr N. Paranietharan made a presentation at the opening ceremony on “Health and the SDGs: Global and Regional Perspectives”.
The SDGs, which Bangladesh adopted in September 2015, is comprised of 17 Goals with 169 targets. SDG 3 states “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”. Health is framed as contributor to and beneficiary of sustainable development and achieving SDG3 will depend on progress in other SDGs – poverty reduction; education; nutrition; gender equality; clean water and sanitation, sustainable energy and safer cities.
Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in lifting millions of people out of poverty and improving their health status. A central concept of the SDGs is that “no one is left behind”, placing the poor and vulnerable at the heart of the development agenda. Another aspect is that the SDGs are comprehensive and indivisible. In this context, health benefits from progress in other SDGs while also contributing to them. This means that working across sectors in close partnership will be paramount for the success in all countries.
UHC is firmly based on the 1948 WHO constitution declaring health a fundamental human right, and on the Health for All agenda set by the Alma-Ata declaration in 1978. The goal of UHC is to ensure that all people obtain the health services they need without suffering financial hardship when paying for them. UHC has a direct impact on a population’s health - access to health services enables people to be more productive and be active contributors to their families and communities. It also ensures that children can go to school and learn. At the same time, financial risk protection prevents people from being pushed into poverty when they have to pay for health services out of their own pockets.