UK's £65m health programme achieves milestone in Bangladesh

The British High Commission in Dhaka today (4 December) celebrated the successful conclusion of the £65 million Better Health in Bangladesh (BHB) programme, marking a significant milestone in public health advancement.

Launched in 2018, the UK's flagship health initiative in collaboration with UNFPA Bangladesh and key partners has substantially improved health outcomes for millions of people in Bangladesh, said a UNFPA press release.

The celebration was attended by senior government officials, development partners, representatives from NGO and INGOs, academia, and programme beneficiaries at a city hotel.

The BHB programme has been a critical partner in supporting the Bangladesh government's  4th Health Population Nutrition Sector Programme (HPNSP) through the Multi-Donor Trust Funds (MDTF), managed by the World Bank.

The UK, as the largest bilateral contributor, provided $37 million to drive the implementation of 16 disbursement-linked indicators focused on enhancing maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) and family planning (FP) services.

The programme's implementing partners—including UNFPA, WHO, Management Sciences for Health (MSH), and icddr,b—played a pivotal role in delivering technical assistance, advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), digitalising health systems, and addressing emerging health challenges.

Over £12 million was allocated to bolster Bangladesh's COVID-19 response, enabling life-saving interventions during the pandemic.

The achievements of the BHB programme includes preventing 2,835 maternal deaths and facilitating the safe delivery of 1.84 million babies.

It provided modern family planning services to 347,519 women while offered nutritional care to 420,000 young children and cervical cancer screening for over 1 million women.

The programme also Accredited 10,345 pharmacies and medicine shops and training 18,651 service providers and community leaders to tackle climate-related health shocks.

It also supported the vaccination of over 5 million people with UK-donated COVID-19 vaccines.

The programme's efforts have significantly reduced preventable deaths, strengthened health systems, and addressed critical issues such as antimicrobial resistance and the health impacts of climate change said the relese.

At the event, representatives from the UK and its implementing partners reaffirmed their commitment to advancing Bangladesh's health systems and addressing future challenges collaboratively, it added.