A book titled, 50 Years of Bangladesh: Advances in Health by Bangladesh Health Watch launched  on 27th May, 2023 at the capital’s International Mother Language Institute Auditorium. The book is published by The University Press Limited (UPL). 
This book documents the measurable progress that has taken place in the health sector since the country's liberation in 1971. Contributed by 103 renowned and reputed health experts, researchers, academics, and journalists, it comprises 20 chapters. 

On that occasion, Dr A K Abdul Momen, MP, Hon’ble Minister for Foreign Affairs, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, was present as Chief Guest. Her Excellency Alexandra Berg von Linde, Ambassador of Sweden to Bangladesh and Mr. Kazi Faisal Bin Seraj, Country Representative, The Asia Foundation, Bangladesh, attended the event as Special Guests.

Dr Ahmed Mushtaque Raza Chowdhury gave his welcome speech and graced the guests and all participants of the event. He briefly talked about the achievements of Bangladesh in health sector and talked about why and how the success are documented in this book. 

A keynote speech in this program was delivered by Dr. Henry Perry, MD, PhD, Senior Associate, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Maryland, USA. Dr Henry started the  thanking, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed and Dr. Zafarullah Chowdhury for their amazing contribution in health sector in his keynote speech.   
 
Dr. Perry said that Bangladesh has achieved so much in last 50 years in the health sector.  He highlighted the improvement in life expectancy; the reduction in mortality of children younger than 5 years of age; the reduction in the total fertility rate; the expansion in coverage of childhood immunizations from; the development of a strong community-based primary health care system through community engagement and the empowerment of community health workers. 
Lastly, he has made some recommendations for the future advancement of the health sector like major expansion of funding for the health sector, with priority given to expansion of coverage at the lower levels of the health system; development of a strong primary health care system with outreach to every home and provision of catastrophic health insurance to all citizens. 

The Chief Guest, honorable Foreign Minister firstly talked about the remarkable achievement of the ruling party. He applauded Bangladesh Health Watch for publishing this book and admitted that it will be a valuable resource for anyone who wants to learn more about the country's health sector. 
He says, “The Community Clinic design is a unique model of PHC in South Asia. Currently, there are 13000 CCs countrywide and these are helping out marginalized populations for accessing to PHC.” 
Dr Momen also said, “In covid management Bangladesh is a role model for the world. Only Bangladesh has made it possible to vaccinated 5 million people in one day.”
Dr Momen highlighted the progress of medicine industry as Bangladesh is now exporting medicine in 117 countries.”
“Doctors and healthcare professionals should treat all patients empathy, because empathy is still missing. This will also help to reduce a number of patients who opt for oversee treatment.”
Dr Momen thinks this is book is an important and document in health sector of Bangladesh. Therefore, he thanked Bangladesh Health Watch for taking this initiative to publish this book.
Her Excellency Alexandra Berg von Linde, Ambassador of Sweden to Bangladesh said, “Sweden and Bangladesh are very good friend from the beginning and in health sector both the countries jointly achieving milestones.”
In her remarks, Her Excellency said, “Bangladesh is achieving commendable increase in life expectancy during last 50 years, on the other hand it took Sweden to achieve it almost 120 years.”
Kazi Faisal Bin Seraj said that this book is an important document for CSOs and NGOs. Bangladesh’s remarkable success in the health sector results from the highest level of commitment from all stakeholders, including Civil Society Organizations. 
This book talked about some of the key achievements in Bangladesh's health sector over the past 50 years. These include the significant reduction in child mortality rates; maternal mortality rates, success in  family planning, reproductive health, nutrition, non-communicable diseases, and so on. Importantly this also discusses some emerging issues which have not been much discussed earlier such as the importance of research, data and communication in health, governance of the health sector, and the contribution of the Bangladeshi expatriate community in the health sector. 

However, this book also depicted a number of challenges in the health sector despite these achievements. These challenges are high burden of non-communicable diseases; lack of access to healthcare for some segments of the population; shortage of skilled health workers and lack of funding for the health sector.
The book is available on the online marketing platform Amazon.com.