Promo progs must for continued health dev

Experts have suggested that the government set up an independent body for health promotion initiatives and the spending of health development surcharges.
The government has introduced a 1.0-per cent surcharge on tobacco prices in 2014 with an eye to spending the revenue on health promotion initiatives.
Eminent economist Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad said, "Bangladesh earns nearly Tk 3.0 billion a year from health development surcharge. This sum was supposed to be spent on health development programmes."
He said this while speaking as the chief guest at a journalists' workshop styled 'Health Promotion for Sustainable Health Development: Bangladesh Perspective' hosted at the BMA Bhaban in Dhaka on Thursday.
Dr Md Enamul Haque, director general of Health Economics Unit, said, "The government is implementing different health promotion activities. A coordinated measure is necessary for sustainable development of the health sector."
Experts at the workshop have suggested adoption and implementation of a health promotion initiative to reduce the risk factors of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and slash the number of NCD-attributable deaths.
NCDs like heart attack, stroke, cancer and diabetes are responsible for an estimated 70 per cent of total deaths in Bangladesh.
Tobacco consumption, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, alcohol consumption and air pollution are some of the major risk factors of NCDs.
The concept of 'health' is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
According to the WHO, 'Health Promotion' is the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health.
A total of 11 countries including Australia, Thailand, and Singapore, have already made remarkable progress in reducing risk factors of NCDs by adopting and implementing health promotion programs.
According to a 2020 WHO study, the current out-of-pocket expenditure in Bangladesh is almost 74 per cent and two-thirds of the amount is spent on medication.
Prioritising and strengthening disease prevention through health promotion programmes would slash the out-of-pocket expenses and reduce diseases, deaths and the burden on our healthcare system.
Among the discussants were Gaous Pearee, director, Work for Better Bangladesh (WBB), Mortuza Haider Liton, convener, Anti-Tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA), Nadira Kiron and Mizan Chowdhury, ATMA co-conveners, and ABM Zubair, executive director, PROGGA.
PROGGA head of programmes Hasan Shahriar presented the key findings.
A total of 25 journalists from both print and TV media participated in this workshop.

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