ABSTRACT
As in the case of education, health is another dimension of human capital. However, incidence and recurrence of diseases and the impoverishment of health affect the productivity of people and standards of living. As in education Bangladesh has had an impressive improvement in health outcome over the years. Infant and under-five mortality has declined and life expectancy has increased to a large extent. Substantial progress has also been made in the prevention of diarrhoea and cholera. Polio and smallpox have nearly been eliminated. If the current progress continues Bangladesh may achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the area of infant and child mortality rates. These improvements have been achieved mainly by the implementation of basic national health programs by the government and NGOs in the areas of family planning, immunization, child healthcare, reproductive health services etc. In spite of some improvement in health outcome, the child malnutrition is still among the highest in the world. An important factor affecting the well-being of rural people in Bangladesh is the universal lack of functioning health facilities and a preventative health system. In rural areas, there is little choice for sick people but to seek help at the closest and cheapest health services. Poor quality of medical staff and lack of medicines are also important factors in the dearth of good health services. The resource allocation on health, population and welfare sector has also increased tremendously but is still not sufficient for the present vast population. The people are likely to be affected by the lack of resources or if health resource-allocation remains inconsistent, there may be negative interaction between health facilities and the population. The resourceallocation in the Annual Development Program (ADP) from 1999-2000 to 2003-4 is shown in Table 5.1.
