Bangladesh has unveiled an ambitious national plan aimed at transforming women's health across the country, with a focus on expanding access to quality maternal and newborn care, combating adolescent anemia and maternal malnutrition, and addressing preventable deaths from cancers affecting women. The initiative was outlined by Bangladesh’s First Lady and Vice President of the Ziaur Rahman Foundation, Dr. Zubaida Rahman, during the World Health Summit in Berlin on Sunday.
Dr. Rahman emphasized the critical need for innovative financing and sustainable investments to enhance healthcare delivery for women and girls, underscoring that traditional aid mechanisms alone are insufficient to meet the demands of a rapidly growing population. “Investing in women is not merely a healthcare priority but an investment in the future of Bangladesh,” she said during a panel titled “The Moment Is Now: Unlocking New Capital for Women's Health Beyond Aid.”
Central to the government’s strategy is the recruitment of 100,000 community and wellbeing workers alongside 25,000 professional midwives, designed to bring timely and quality healthcare services closer to women in both urban centers and remote rural areas. Dr. Rahman highlighted that no woman should have to travel to the capital, Dhaka, or incur excessive costs to access critical maternal care. She framed this as an issue of dignity, equity and social justice.
The new approach also broadens the scope of women’s health beyond childbirth, targeting long-term wellbeing from adolescence through adulthood. Dr. Rahman noted the importance of early interventions, stating that girls must grow up educated, well-nourished and empowered in order to break cycles of poor health outcomes. Existing government schemes such as family cards, farmer cards, and free education through graduation are part of this wider effort to enhance women’s opportunities and social status.
A key component of the plan involves tackling cancers specific to women, which remain a leading cause of preventable death. Dr. Rahman announced a dedicated initiative to address these challenges, emphasizing it as a further step toward safeguarding the health and well-being of women throughout Bangladesh.
Recognizing the role of international partners, Dr. Rahman acknowledged support from the United Nations, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the European Investment Bank, while calling for more robust partnerships and mechanisms that move beyond short-term aid toward results-driven, sustainable financing. “We need to move from short-term aid to sustainable investments and from promises to measurable results,” she said.
Dr. Rahman also reflected on the country’s social progress, paying tribute to the contributions of the late President Ziaur Rahman and Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, whose past initiatives in rural development, family planning, girls’ education, and women’s empowerment laid the groundwork for the current health agenda.
Concluding her remarks, she issued a call to action for governments, development partners, philanthropic organizations, financial institutions, and the private sector to collaborate in advancing women’s health. “The moment is now. Let us all act together,” she urged.