The Path to Universal Health Coverage in Bangladesh : Bridging the Gap of Human Resources for Health

Bangladesh is committed to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) by 2032; to this end, the government of Bangladesh is exploring policy options to increase fiscal space for health and expand coverage while improving service quality and availability. Despite Bangladesh’s impressive strides in imp...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: El-Saharty, Sameh, Powers Sparkes, Susan, Barroy, Helene, Ahsan, Karar Zunaid, Ahmed, Syed Masud
Language:en_US
Published: Washington, DC: World Bank 2015
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Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10986/21633
Description
Summary:Bangladesh is committed to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) by 2032; to this end, the government of Bangladesh is exploring policy options to increase fiscal space for health and expand coverage while improving service quality and availability. Despite Bangladesh’s impressive strides in improving its economic and social development outcomes, the government still confronts health financing and service delivery challenges. In its review of the health system, this study highlights the limited fiscal space for implementing UHC in Bangladesh, particularly given low public spending for health and high out-of-pocket expenditure. The crisis in the country’s human resources for health (HRH) compounds public health service delivery inefficiencies. As the government explores options to finance its UHC plan, it must recognize that reform of its service delivery system with particular focus on HRH has to be the centerpiece of any policy initiative.