Primary healthcare at heart of vision for 'Healthy Bangladesh': PM

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman said on Thursday that his government wants to build a "Healthy Bangladesh" where healthcare starts at home and in the community, placing primary healthcare at the heart of the country's health reform agenda with a particular focus on women and children. 

"My government is transforming our health system, guided by a simple principle: 'Prevention is better than cure.' We want to build a Healthy Bangladesh, where healthcare begins in the home and community," he said.

The prime minister was opening a high-level side event titled "From Commitment to Action: Integrating Midwifery into Primary Health Care to End Preventable Maternal and Newborn Deaths" at the United Nations headquarters in New York. 

Bangladesh co-hosted the event with Sweden in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly. 

Tarique Rahman outlined Bangladesh's plans to strengthen community-based primary healthcare and expand the role of professional midwives as part of multidisciplinary primary healthcare teams.

He said his government intends to recruit 100,000 additional health workers, 80% of whom will be women, to connect families with the health system, identify risks early and support timely care.

"One professional has a particularly important role in this continuum: the midwife," he said, adding, "A professional midwife can become a woman's trusted health professional from preconception through the postnatal period."

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The prime minister said his government has decided to recruit 25,000 professional midwives across Bangladesh and the process has begun.

He said the midwives will provide essential reproductive care, support antenatal care, promote safe and respectful childbirth, identify complications early and facilitate referrals.

They will also support mothers and newborns through breastfeeding, immunisation and healthy childhood development, he added.

Tarique said Bangladesh has built an important foundation in professional midwifery, laid by former prime minister Khaleda Zia.

"We have established professional midwifery education, strengthened regulation, and deployed midwives across district, sub-district and Union-level facilities," he said.

Bangladesh now has more than 11,000 licensed midwives, with the objective of reaching 25,000 by 2030, he said. "Our partnership with Sweden and UNFPA has made an important contribution," he added.

With UNFPA's cooperation, Bangladesh expanded midwifery-led care across 22 districts, where skilled midwives supported more than 154,000 births and managed critical maternal cases, he said.

"These are not merely statistics. They represent mothers returning home safely, and newborns beginning life with hope." 

The government, the prime minister said, is also building an integrated digital health ecosystem, envisioning that every citizen will have a Health Card linked with a digital health record and electronic referral system.

"For a woman in rural Bangladesh, her care can be registered close to home, her visits tracked, and her risk factors recorded. If referred to a higher-level hospital, the necessary information should travel with her." 

Tarique said the government's vision for women's health extends beyond pregnancy and childbirth and covers women's health across the life course.

This includes adolescent health, reproductive health and family planning, as well as prevention and early detection of cervical and breast cancers, he said.

"Midwifery must therefore be part of a broader platform for women's health within primary healthcare." 

He stressed that the next phase must be driven by national ownership and sustainable domestic investment.

As the discussion opened, the prime minister said his ambition was to ensure that every woman has access to a skilled professional midwife as part of her primary healthcare team close to where she lives.

"For Bangladesh, this means deploying midwives nationwide, strengthening community health services and referral pathways, and connecting citizens through a modern digital health system," he said.

"Together, these steps will help us build a healthy, thriving Bangladesh. And this is how we move from commitment to action," he added.

The prime minister expressed his expectation to hear the perspectives of the participating ministers, partners and experts at the event.