Policy Brief: Key Recommendations for Effective Modalities for Urban Primary Health Care Systems in Bangladesh
BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health and ARK Foundation have mapped the stakeholders across policy makers, urban health experts, health care providers from public and private sectors in Dhaka and Khulna metropolitan cities, and held a series of workshops to share experiences and reflect on ways to improve current modalities of the existing primary health care system. The teams have developed a policy brief to summarise key recommendations coming out of the stakeholder workshops.
Conference Presentation: Analysing the level of acceptability and perceived benefits of linkage between informal and formal health providers
Informal healthcare providers (IHPs) present opportunities to improve provision and access to essential health services in underserved areas such as urban slums. However, the absence of a coordinated structure for IHPs contributes to weak enforcement of regulations and poor adherence to the limits of practising license, resulting in the provision of substandard quality of care….
Conference Presentation: Reconnaissance Approach for Identifying & Characterising Informal Providers in Urban Slums
Informal health care providers (IHPs) tend to be people who have not gone through formal training, who provide health services which are usually grounded in traditional and subcultural practices, unregulated by formal health authorities. They dominate healthcare in settings where formal healthcare may not be optimal or at a high cost. Because of the mode of…
Conference Poster: The Need for Social Justice Professionals in Addressing Vital Concerns in Primary Health Centres that Inhibit Utilisation by Slum Dwellers
In Nigerian urban slums, primary health care centres do not have high patronage, and residents utilise the services of informal health providers like traditional healers, birth attendants, and patent medicine vendors. There are emerging insights that this happens for many reasons, including that primary healthcare practices are inconsistent with the rights and expectations of the…
Conference Poster: Navigating Strategic Purchasing for Equitable Urban Primary Healthcare in Bangladesh
Fatema Kashfi, at ARK Foundation, shared the key issues and strategic purchasing essentials at the 20th International Conference on Urban Health, November 2024
Conference Poster: Examining Governance and Leadership of Informal Healthcare Providers in Urban Slums of Nigeria
In urban slums across Nigeria, informal healthcare providers (IHPs) play a key role in healthcare delivery, offering convenient access and flexible payment options for clients. Despite their significance, the governance and leadership systems of IHPs remain poorly understood. This poster shares findings on the existing governance structures of IHPs and their interactions with the formal health system.
Conference Poster: An Analysis of Urban Health Policies in Bangladesh and Identifying Gaps between Policies and Practices
We explored the past and current health policies of Bangladesh to understand how urban health with its special needs has been addressed, what are the current implementation challenges of the urban health system and gaps between policies and practices. Findings are shared in this poster, presented at the 13th European Congress on Global Health, 2023.
Conference Poster: An overview of the Existing Partnership and Purchasing Arrangements for Delivering Primary Health Care Services in the Urban Settings of Bangladesh: A Scoping Review
As part of the CHORUS project in Bangladesh on strategic purchasing models for urban primary health care, we examined what evidence exists in the literature on contractual arrangements for purchasing primary health care services in the urban areas, utilised by the government.
Conference Poster: Changes in NCD Management within Urban Primary Health Care System: Analysis of 2014 and 2017 National Surveys
Bangladesh is witnessing an ever growing increase in the urban population. Despite evidence from nationwide surveys showing an increase in NCD risk factors among Bangladeshi urban dwellers over time, there is an evident gap in the status of NCD management across urban primary health care (PHC) centres. As part of the CHORUS project in Bangladesh,…
Conference Presentation: Where do Bangladesh’s urban poor go for NCD care, and do they receive adequate advice for NCD prevention and control? Mar 5, 2025
Nationwide surveys have evidenced a marked increase in NCD risk factors among Bangladeshi urban dwellers. The CHORUS project in Bangladesh sought to understand the health seeking behaviours of the poorest urban populations, regarding NCD control, prevention and care, and the services available to them. Through an extensive needs assessment, significant barriers were identified by respondents,…