Bangladesh must ensure participation of the people of all strata as the government could not alone achieve universal health coverage, health experts told a function on Thursday. They told the function as Save the Children launched their global report ‘Primary Health Care First: Strengthening the Foundation for Universal Health Coverage’, marking the Universal Health Coverage Day on December 12. In respect to the global report, Save the Children in Bangladesh has  undertaken an in-depth situation analysis to discuss the progress, successes and challenges of advancing UHC in Bangladesh.

The Report launching event titled 'Realizing Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Bangladesh: Time for action' was organized on Thursday at a hotel in the capital.

This programme was jointly organised by Save the Children in Bangladesh and BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health (JPGSP), BRAC University.

Ashadul Islam, secretary of the ministry of Public Administration, Md Nuruzzaman, Acting DG, Health Economics Unit, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Dr Hossian Zillur Rahman, Chairman, Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC), health experts and officials of different organisations, among others, addressed the function.

Dr Shamim Jahan, Director of Health Nutrition and HIV/AIDS at Save the Children in Bangladesh discussed about Save the Children's evidence based programmes on the ground which have been successfully scaled up and operationalised and worked in the health system strengthening.

Senior research fellow of JPGSPH of BRAC Nadia Ishrat Alamgir and Senior Research Associate Dr Nahitun Naher and Assistant Professor of JPGPH of BRAC Taufique Joarder made separate presentations on different aspects of UHC.