Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is said to exist when ‘every person, everywhere, has access to quality health care without suffering financial hardship’. The three cardinal dimensions of coverage include population (‘who is covered’), services (‘which services are included’), and financial (‘what proportions of the cost is covered). The goal of UHC is rooted in the concept of human rights to health, which also makes sense economically.
As elsewhere, the movement towards
achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is gaining momentum in Bangladesh,
especially its endorsement by the WHA in December 2012 and by the UNGA in
September 2015, and approval of SDGs in September 2016. The day of endorsement
of UHC by WHA, the 12th of December 2012, is now celebrated as UHC
Day since 2014. The Centre of Excellence for UHC unde the JPG BRAC School of
Public Health, BRAC University, has celebrated the first and the second UHC day
in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
This year, it also took part in
observing the day, with some financial help from the Global Health Strategies
as a member of the global UHC Coalition (739 organizations in 117
countries). Below is
a short description of the activities by the Centre on UHC Day 2016, including a
description of additional activities on the day undertaken by the Centre.
·
Rally for UHC
The Centre started the UHC Day
celebration on Monday, 12 December 2016 morning with a rally led by the CoE-UHC.
Besides the participants from JPG BRAC School of Public Health, over 150
participants from diverse organizations/institutions joined the rally.
Participants included students of medical association named PLATFORM; doctors
from Gonoshasthaya Medical College; students from Department of Midwifery, BRAC
University; students from University of Dhaka; public health specialist; health
program peoples; public health advocates; members of youth organizations named United
Nations Youth and Students Association of Bangladesh (UNYSA Bangladesh); representatives from
field level implementers like Sajida Foundation; BRAC; Social Education
Development & Research Organization (SEDRO) joined the rally. Representatives
from enlisted organization in UHC Coalition like Work for a Better Bangladesh
Trust, U Chicago Research Bangladesh etc. also joined the rally. A few
participants from outside the city also came
to join the rally voluntarily. Some passer-by expressed curiosity and joined
the rally.
The assembly
point for the rally was in front of the National Museum in Shahbag. The participants
started assembling from 09:00 am onwards. T-shirt, cap and placards prepared especially
for UHC day rally was distributed among the participants by 10:30 am. Under the theme of this year’s UHC Day “Act with Ambition,”
the participants carried placards and banners bearing slogans that reflected
the mentioned theme, including “Health for All is a right, not a privilege”,
“Universal Health Coverage - every person, everywhere, has access to quality
healthcare without financial hardship”, and “No one should go bankrupt when
they get sick”.
By 10:30 am the
rally started from Shahabag and the procession headed towards Shahid Minar and
ended by 11:30 am at Shahid Minar with short speech of participants from
various organizations expressing solidarity and demand for UHC in Bangladesh. All
the speakers’ emphasized on collaborative efforts and government stewardship to
achieve UHC in the country. The rally ended with note of thanks
by the organizers expressing solidarity to work together to accelerate this
momentum for UHC in Bangladesh. The news of the rally
was well covered by the prominent Bangla newspapers like The Daily Ittefaq and
Bhorer Kagoj.
To mobilize and consolidate stakeholders’ efforts and to
discuss what has been done so far and how to proceed further towards UHC in Bangladesh, an in-house
multi-stakeholders discussion session was also organized by the Centre on UHC
Day.
The program started around 02:30 pm with welcome and
introduction note by Dr. Ahmed Mushtaque Raza Chowdhury, Vice Chairperson, BRAC
one of the champion of UHC movement in Bangladesh. He dwelt on how the journey
of UHC in Bangladesh was initiated and also emphasized on moving this agenda further
forward towards achieving UHC in the country.
A video on UHC in Bangladesh context prepared by the Centre was played
which highlighted commitment of GoB at global platforms including projection of
prime strategies, policies and initiatives taken by the government at national
level. The video also displayed various activities taken by the Centre towards
accelerating UHC.
Prof. Syed Masud Ahmed, Director, CoE-UHC gave a brief
orientation explaining the core concepts, and different modalities of achieving
UHC in different countries. He also clarified some popular misconceptions regarding
UHC. Prof. Malabika Sarker, Director, Research made a short presentation on
quality of care highlighting its importance for achieving UHC . In another
presentation Dr. Taufique Jaorder, Assistant Professor shared the concepts of
equity and responsiveness for advancing UHC. Beside the presentations, there
was also floor for sharing experiences by participants from different
organizations who are working on UHC.. Two centre grantees
(recipient of CoE-UHC fund) were present and gave brief overview of their
projects that aimed to create evidence that will help to achieve UHC in
Bangladesh. UHC status in respective countries and learning lessons for Bangladesh
was also shared by one national and one international student (Bhutan) of MPH
program of JPGSPH.
After this discussion
session, the floor was open to clarify any queries of the participants and a
participatory discussion followed Around 100 participants including
in-house and outside guests attended the event. Representatives from
different institutions like icddr,b, BRAC, USAID, Public Health Foundation of
Bangladesh (PHFBD) participated in the program.
Different
communication materials like banners, poster highlighting UHC day messages were
developed and displayed. UHC day logo stickers were prepared and distributed
among the participants to celebrate the event. All relevant publications from
the centre was displayed for the participants to share CoE-UHC activities.
The session ended at 05:00 pm with
note of thanks from the Centre Director and distribution of light refreshment
among the participants.
Multi-stakeholders’ discussion session pictures to celebrate
Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day 2016
·
In-house Health Camp
An in-house
health camp was also organized in the main lobby of the office. The students of
Department of Midwifery, BRAC University provided free health check-up including
measurement of BMI (Body Mass Index), Family Planning Counseling, Counseling on
household related violence issues and also demonstration on breast self- examination
in a makeshift consultation corner Participants from within and outside enjoyed
the services of the health camp.
·
Mainstream Media Mobilization to Build
Awareness on UHC
From the end of November 2016, the
Centre started mobilizing mainstream media by publishing Op-Ed and features on
the progress of and way forward for UHC in Bangladesh and how it can bring
positive impacts in the health system of Bangladesh. As a result, several
write-ups of CoE-UHC members were published in different print and online
Medias on and around the UHC day. On December 11, 2016 two articles were
published featuring the global movement and Bangladesh momentum for UHC. Among
these two write-ups one was published in a highly circulated daily Bengali
newspaper ‘Shokaler Khobor’. The article in a very simple way shared the core
concepts of UHC and also highlighted recent GoB initiatives and way forwards
for UHC in Bangladesh. The other article focusing on UHC Day December 12 was
published in an online daily Bengali newspaper ‘Dacca post’. Another article ‘Let’s Talk
About Universal Health Coverage’ was published in ‘Vital Sign’ JPGSPH Blog.
This write-up narrated the historic events that initiated the path towards UHC
starting from 1978 Alma Ata deceleration to announcement of health partnership
announcement for accelerating UHC worldwide. It also highlighted the challenges
of achieving UHC in Bangladesh. An article focusing the basic facts of UHC was
published in UHC day December 12 in another renowned Bengali daily newspaper
‘Shomokal’. One of the main stream Bengali daily news ‘Jugantor’ published the
article which highlighted the ways to get involved and to act with ambition on
this UHC day.
·
Online and Social Media Campaign on UHC
In addition to the mentioned activities
the Centre took social media campaign as an advocacy opportunity for its
potentiality to generate awareness among mass people. This campaign ran through
JPGSPH Facebook and Twitter account. A
Facebook event page was created to share the UHC Day events plans in advance to
mobilize and have maximum involvement of participants (give URL).
·
Other activities on UHC DAY under the
project named ‘Building Awareness on UHC in Bangladesh: Advancing the agenda
forward in 2016’ from CoE-UHC
A TV talk show took place iand
n the popular RTV show, Kemon
Bangladesh Chae On December 12 at
11:30 PM focusing on “Acting with Ambition to Build Awareness of
UHC.” Mr. Ashadul Islam, the Director-General of the Health Economics
Unit, Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare, prominent members
of the academia and civil society all spoke about how to advance towards UHC in
Bangladesh. The participants discussed the core concepts of UHC and dispel any
misconceptions, Bangladesh's preparedness towards UHC and political commitment
at the highest level, and options to overcome various barriers related to
health financing, ensuring equitable and quality health services and essential
medicines, and raising the awareness of the population for demanding health
services as a human right.
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