ABSTRACT

Bangladesh has experienced a silent revolution in public health. A public–private partnership in health care ultimately led Bangladesh to experiment with innovative ideas in the delivery of health care that later proved not only highly successful but also a model for other countries. A somewhat pro-equity approach to address health issues – for example, child and maternal mortality rates, family planning, vaccination, and diseases like tuberculosis and dehydration – has significantly improved Bangladesh’s overall health landscape. In theory, pluralism in health means a presence of different stakeholders that work in different ways to fulfill one goal: providing health care. Innovation in Bangladesh’s health sector has come in two broad ways: institutional and operational. Some of the biggest threats that will continue to affect Bangladesh in the years ahead arise from climate change. Bangladesh’s health care system has evolved, in principle, to tackle the wave of first-generation challenges that are largely the by-products of poverty: infectious, nutritional, and maternity-related diseases.