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Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain has reaffirmed Bangladesh’s commitment to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) by 2030, pledging to ensure essential healthcare services for all citizens regardless of their location or social status.
“ The government is working to ensure essential healthcare services for every person in the country, irrespective of geographical location and social status,” he said.
The minister made the remarks while addressing the first BIMSTEC Health Ministers’ Conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Wednesday (11 November), according to a press release.
Health ministers, policymakers and experts from BIMSTEC member countries attended the conference.
Sakhawat said Bangladesh had made significant progress in key health indicators, including reducing maternal and neonatal mortality, maintaining its polio-free status and expanding immunisation programmes.
He said coverage of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme, aimed at preventing cervical cancer, had risen from 2% to more than 85% since the formation of the new government. The government aims to achieve full coverage by the end of November this year, he added.
The minister also said the government, under Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s leadership, had doubled the health sector budget to 1.01% of gross domestic product (GDP), with plans to gradually raise the allocation to 5% of GDP.
He said the government was also prioritising preventive healthcare, expanding primary healthcare services and raising public awareness.
As part of these efforts, initiatives have been taken to establish primary healthcare centres in more than 4,600 unions nationwide, staffed by multidisciplinary health workers, he added.