‘Connecting the dots’ for generating a momentum for Universal Health Coverage in Bangladesh: findings from a cross-sectional descriptive study

Objective This study was conducted to explore how and whether, the strategic grants made by the Rockefeller Foundation (RF) in different sectors of health systems in the inception phase were able to ‘connect the dots’ for ‘generating a momentum for Universal Health Coverage (UHC)’ in the country.Des...

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Main Authors: Nahitun Naher, Syed Masud Ahmed, Lal B Rawal, Tarek Hossain
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMJ Publishing Group 2019-07-01
Series:BMJ Open
Online Access:https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/7/e024509.full
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author Nahitun Naher
Syed Masud Ahmed
Lal B Rawal
Tarek Hossain
author_facet Nahitun Naher
Syed Masud Ahmed
Lal B Rawal
Tarek Hossain
author_sort Nahitun Naher
collection DOAJ
description Objective This study was conducted to explore how and whether, the strategic grants made by the Rockefeller Foundation (RF) in different sectors of health systems in the inception phase were able to ‘connect the dots’ for ‘generating a momentum for Universal Health Coverage (UHC)’ in the country.Design Cross-sectional descriptive study, using document review and qualitative methods.Setting Bangladesh, 17 UHC-related projects funded by the RF Transforming Health Systems (THS) initiative during 2010–2013.Data Available reports of the completed and on-going UHC projects, policy documents of the government relevant to UHC, key-informant interviews and feedback from grant recipients and relevant stakeholders in the policy and practice.Outcome measures Key policy initiatives undertaken for implementing UHC activities by the government post grants disbursement.Results The RF THS grants simultaneously targeted and connected the academia, the public and non-profit development sectors and news media for awareness-building and advocacy on UHC, develop relevant policies and capacity for implementation including evidence generation. This strategy helped relevant stakeholders to come together to discuss and debate the core concepts, scopes and modalities of UHC in an attempt to reach a consensus. Additionally, experiences gained from implementation of the pilot projects helped in identifying possible entry points for initiating UHC activities in a low resource setting like Bangladesh.Conclusions During early years of UHC-related activities in Bangladesh, strategic investments of the RF THS initiative played a catalytic role in sensitising and mobilising different constituencies for concerted activities and undertaking necessary first steps. Learnings from this strategy may be of help to countries under similar conditions of ‘low resource, apparent commitment, but poor governance,’ on their journey towards UHC.
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spelling doaj-art-2f2731920b57436d8af21da4fef7c7722025-08-20T02:07:05ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552019-07-019710.1136/bmjopen-2018-024509‘Connecting the dots’ for generating a momentum for Universal Health Coverage in Bangladesh: findings from a cross-sectional descriptive studyNahitun Naher0Syed Masud Ahmed1Lal B Rawal2Tarek Hossain3Centre of Excellence for Universal Health Coverage at Centre for Equity and Health Systems, James P. Grant School of Public Health, Brac University, Dhaka, BangladeshCentre of Excellence for Universal Health Coverage at Centre for Equity and Health Systems, James P. Grant School of Public Health, Brac University, Dhaka, BangladeshSchool of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, College of Science and Sustainability, Central Queensland University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia1 Centre of Excellence for Health Systems and UHC, James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, BangladeshObjective This study was conducted to explore how and whether, the strategic grants made by the Rockefeller Foundation (RF) in different sectors of health systems in the inception phase were able to ‘connect the dots’ for ‘generating a momentum for Universal Health Coverage (UHC)’ in the country.Design Cross-sectional descriptive study, using document review and qualitative methods.Setting Bangladesh, 17 UHC-related projects funded by the RF Transforming Health Systems (THS) initiative during 2010–2013.Data Available reports of the completed and on-going UHC projects, policy documents of the government relevant to UHC, key-informant interviews and feedback from grant recipients and relevant stakeholders in the policy and practice.Outcome measures Key policy initiatives undertaken for implementing UHC activities by the government post grants disbursement.Results The RF THS grants simultaneously targeted and connected the academia, the public and non-profit development sectors and news media for awareness-building and advocacy on UHC, develop relevant policies and capacity for implementation including evidence generation. This strategy helped relevant stakeholders to come together to discuss and debate the core concepts, scopes and modalities of UHC in an attempt to reach a consensus. Additionally, experiences gained from implementation of the pilot projects helped in identifying possible entry points for initiating UHC activities in a low resource setting like Bangladesh.Conclusions During early years of UHC-related activities in Bangladesh, strategic investments of the RF THS initiative played a catalytic role in sensitising and mobilising different constituencies for concerted activities and undertaking necessary first steps. Learnings from this strategy may be of help to countries under similar conditions of ‘low resource, apparent commitment, but poor governance,’ on their journey towards UHC.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/7/e024509.full
spellingShingle Nahitun Naher
Syed Masud Ahmed
Lal B Rawal
Tarek Hossain
‘Connecting the dots’ for generating a momentum for Universal Health Coverage in Bangladesh: findings from a cross-sectional descriptive study
BMJ Open
title ‘Connecting the dots’ for generating a momentum for Universal Health Coverage in Bangladesh: findings from a cross-sectional descriptive study
title_full ‘Connecting the dots’ for generating a momentum for Universal Health Coverage in Bangladesh: findings from a cross-sectional descriptive study
title_fullStr ‘Connecting the dots’ for generating a momentum for Universal Health Coverage in Bangladesh: findings from a cross-sectional descriptive study
title_full_unstemmed ‘Connecting the dots’ for generating a momentum for Universal Health Coverage in Bangladesh: findings from a cross-sectional descriptive study
title_short ‘Connecting the dots’ for generating a momentum for Universal Health Coverage in Bangladesh: findings from a cross-sectional descriptive study
title_sort connecting the dots for generating a momentum for universal health coverage in bangladesh findings from a cross sectional descriptive study
url https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/7/e024509.full
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