Health is defined as "A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The State and the government are constitutionally obliged to ensure health care every citizen who have basic right to adequate healthcare. To ensure an effective health care system that responds to the need of a healthy nation, health policy provides the vision and mission for development pursuit of such policy will fulfill the demands of the people of the country, People's physical well-being and free thought process have proved to be a pre-condition for the growth and intellectual enrichment in today's human society.
The healthcare system are designated to meet the health needs of the community through the use of available knowledge and resources. The services provided should be comprehensive and community based. The resources must be distributed according to the needs of the community. The final outcome of good health care system is improve health status of the community which is expressed in terms of lives saved, death averted, disease prevented, disease treated, prolongation of life etc.
Health care delivery system in Bangladesh based on PHC concept has got various Level of service delivery:
- Home and community level.
- Union level
- Union sub center (USC) or Health and family welfare center; This is the first health facility level.
- Thana level, Thana Health Complex (THC): This is the first referral level.
- District Hospital: This is the secondary referral level.
- National Level: This is the tertiary referral level.
National Health Policy of Bangladesh
ake necessary basic medical utilities reach people of all district and develop the health and nutrition status of the peoples as indicated in Bangladesh constitution
Develop system to ensure easy and sustained availability of health services for the people, especially the poor communities in both rural and urban areas.
Reduce the intensity of malnutrition among people, especially children and mothers; and implement effective and integrated programs for improving nutrition status of all segments of the population
Ensure optimum quality, acceptance and availability of primary health care and governmental medial services at the thane and union levels.
Strengthen and expedite the family planning program with the objective of attaining the target of Replacement Level of Fertility
Arrange special health services for the mentally retarded, the physically disabled and elderly populations
Introduce systems for treatment of all types of complicated diseases in the country, and minimize the need for foreign travel for medical treatment
Undertake programs for reducing the rates of child and maternal mortality within the next 5 years and reduce these rates to an acceptable level
Adopt satisfactory measures for ensuring improved maternal and child health at the union level, and install facilities for safe and hygienic child delivery in each village
Improve overall reproductive health resources and services
Ensure the presence of full-time doctors, nurses and other officers/staff, provide and maintain necessary equipment and supplies at each of the upazilla health complexes and Union Health and Family Welfare Centers (UHFWCs)
Devise necessary ways and means for the people to make optimum usage of available opportunities in government hospitals and the health service system, and ensure satisfactory quality management, cleanliness of service delivery at the hospitals
Formulate specific policies for medical colleges and private clinics, and to introduce laws and regulation for the control and management of such institutions including maintenance of service quality
Policy Principles
The following policy principles have been adopted in order to attain the foregoing goals and objectives
To create awareness among the enable every citizen of Bangladesh irrespective of caste, creed, religion, income and gender, and especially children and women, in any geographical region of the country, through media publicity, to obtain health, nutrition and reproductive health services on the basis of social justice and equality through ensuring everyone’s constitutional rights;
To make the essential primary health care services reach every citizen in all geographical regions within Bangladesh;
To ensure equal distribution and optimum usage of the available resources to solve urgent health-related problems with focus on the disadvantaged, poor and unemployed persons
To involve the people in various processes like planning, management, local fund raising, spending, monitoring and review of the procedure of health service delivery etc. with the aim of decentralizing the health management system and establishing people’s right and responsibilities in this system
To facilitate and assist in the collaborative efforts between the government and the non-government agencies to ensure effective provision of health services to all
To ensure availability of birth control supplies through integration, expansion and strengthening of the family planning activities
To carry out appropriate administrative restructuring, decentralization of the service delivery procedure and the supply system, and to adopt strategies for priority-based human resource development aimed at overall improvement and quality-enhancement of health service, and to create access of all citizens to such services
To encourage adoption and application of effective and efficient technology, operational development and research activities in order to ensure further strengthening and usage of health, nutrition and reproductive health services
To provide legal support with regard to the rights, opportunities, responsibilities, obligations and restrictions of the service providers, service receivers and other citizens, in connection with matters related to health service; and
To establish self-reliance and self-sufficiency in the health sector by implementing the primary health care and essential services programs, in order to fulfill the aspirations of the people for their overall sound health and access to reproductive health care