Launching of Bangladesh Health Watch Report 2014: Urban Health Scenario: Looking Beyond 2015

The BHW Report 2014 “Urban Health Scenario: Looking Beyond 2015” was launched on 10^th April in the PPRC UHC Conference at Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel Ball Room as an independent event. This 2014 BHW Report deals with problems and prospects of urban health in the context of post 2015 development agenda. The challenges of providing services to vulnerable population groups, e.g., the ever increasing slum population, received special attention.  In different chapters of this report, urban health issues such as pluralistic health service delivery system, food insecurity and malnutrition, poor state of water, sanitation and urban environment, complexity of urban health governance etc. are discussed by experts in respective fields, using secondary data. A concluding chapter summarized the key findings and based upon these, a set of recommendations is proposed to facilitate better urban health beyond 2015.

Initiated in 2006, Bangladesh Health Watch (BHW) is a civil society advocacy and monitoring initiative dedicated to improve the health system in Bangladesh through critical review of policies and programmes, and recommendation of appropriate actions for change.

BHW publishes a bi-annual report on the state of health in Bangladesh and does advocacy work to catalyze sustainable changes in the health sector. The health watch applies monitoring and advocacy measures such as round table discussions, meetings, press briefings and media reports to engage all key stakeholders in the health sector and disseminate report findings  to wider audiences for action. So far, four reports on health equity (2006),  health workforce (2008), health sector governance (2010), and Bangladesh’s preparedness to universal health coverage (2012) have been published.

Following reviews of different aspects of current urban health scenario, the Report proposed seven actions to improve the situation: i) Alleviate food and nutrition insecurity among the urban poor and slum population by supplementing their fluctuating income ii) Build an integrated infrastructure for PHC service delivery,involving all providersin the urban areas, under a system of pluralistic governance iii) Adopt a rights-based approach to health service delivery iv) Adopt an equity lens for urban health care services v) Ensure basic amenities for the slum population vi) Reduce air, noise and water pollution and vii) formulate an Urban Health Policy apart from the National Health Policy