A $30 million Global Financing Fund grant has been launched in the capital on Sunday morning, at a programme organised at a city hotel by the World Bank and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Health Minister Mohammed Nasim urged donors to provide the funds as quickly as possible and vowed to stamp out corruption in the health sector.
World Bank Senior Director Timothy Grant Evans said the country's shrinking health budget, from 6% in 2010-11 to 4% in 2015-16, was “a challenge.”
“Some 15% of households faced catastrophic health expenditures,” he said. “The total health expenditure in the country is 3.5% of GDP while government health expenditure is 1% of GDP.”
He said out of pocket spending accounted for 64% of total health expenditures and 65% of that amount was spent on medicine. “Less than 1% of the public is covered by health insurance.”
Nasim, the chief guest at the programme, said: “Sitting here in the Lakeshore or Sonargaon hotels, you cannot see the real development taking place in the country under our government. You should visit our rural areas to see the development and success.
“Please provide the funds quickly. I can assure you that every paisa [penny] will be expended transparently. If any corruption is discovered, it will be punished.”
Health Secretary Syed Monjurul Islam said: "Actually there is good health care at low cost in our country."
He said ongoing challenges include the unfinished Millennium Development Goals agenda, a shortage of human resources, inadequate numbers of nurses, paramedics, midwives and technicians, and inadequate health financing.
"We still lag behind Sri Lanka in maternal mortality, under-5 and infant mortality rates and public expenditures in the health sector. But with the three pillars of quality, equity and efficiency, we will move forward with our 4th sector programme," the health secretary said quoting World Bank and WHO figures.
Among the speakers at the programme were Canadian High Commissioner Benoît-Pierre Laramée, Brac Vice Chairman Ahmed Mushtaque Raza Chowdhury and Economic Relations Division Secretary Kazi Shafiqul Azam.
