Who we are

Bangladesh Health Watch (BHW) started its journey in 2006 as a group of concerned citizens and experts with a vision of facilitating universal health coverage for all the citizens in Bangladesh. Since the foundation, BHW have been working to bring about sustainable improvements in the health sector in Bangladesh through research, documentation, policy advocacy and networking.

Vision

Universal Health Coverage is ensured for all citizens of Bangladesh.

Mission

Building a functional platform through which citizens and all other relevant stakeholders of the country can get their voices heard and thereby influence policies and programmes impacting citizen's health.

Core values

Governance

BHW operates from its secretariat at James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University and guided by an Advisory Group and a Working Group. The Advisory Group provides strategic guidance and support to the Working Group. The secretariat implements the programs of BHW following the guidelines from the Working Group.

Reaching voices of the grassroots to the policy makers

Voices of the grassroots people hardly reach to the policymaking forums.

BHW has formed Eight (8) regional chapters comprising of civil society members to monitor health service situations at the local level and act as the bridge between the service seekers and providers. Regional chapters bring the concerns and voices of the service providers and recipients to the policymakers through District Health Rights Forums (DHRF), Upazila Health Rights Forums and Union Health Rights Forums. Alongside there are District Health Rights Youth Forum to support health advocacy programs of DHRF.

Publications by BHW

BHW publishes analytical reports, policy briefs, bulletins, and books on the contemporary issues of Bangladesh health systems. Bangladesh Health Watch has published a book titled "স্বাধীনতার পঞ্চাশ বছরঃ বাংলাদেশের স্বাস্থ্যখাতের বিকাশ". Prominent public health experts, researchers, academics, journalists, and doctors have contributed to this book on the health sector of Bangladesh over the five decades of independence.

Evidence-based advocacy

BHW conducts research and evidence-based advocacy for citizen-friendly health policies focusing on financing, transparency, accountability, participation, good governance, equity, and quality

of service in the health sectors. Some notable works are monitoring the election manifesto of the present political government; evaluating the budget allocation and policymaking processes in the health sector: issues covering the national health programmes. During the COVID-19 crisis. BHW conducted research to address the knowledge gaps regarding the pandemic which were widely discussed in different spheres of state and civil society.

Research repository on COVID-19

Since 2020. number of several researches have been conducted on COVID-19. BHW created a COVID-19 Research Hub which is a repository having free access to the research papers published on COVID-19 in the context of Bangladesh. The research repository also contains the research works on the issues of health governance focusing on equity and transparency.

You can access the research hub through this link: COVID Research Hub

Projects of BHW

BHW's current project is "Making Bangladesh Health Care Systems More Responsive and Participatory." The goal of the project is - 'To strengthen the healthcare system so that it is more responsive to the people's needs and demands'.

Regional Chapters

1. Kurigram
2. Chapainawabganj
3. Netrokona
4. Sunamganj
5. Manikganj
6. Bagerhat
7. Barguna
8. Khagrachhari