Established in 2012, the Centre works in different areas of the health systems and Universal Health Coverage in Bangladesh. The Centre generates essential evidence to inform key stakeholders in policy and practice for necessary interventions or modifying existing interventions. Research areas covered include UHC, equity and social determinants of health, HRH, pharmaceutical R&D, absenteeism and rural retention, corruption, AMR, epidemic/ pandemic preparation, adolescent health and health of the marginalized population. National and International workshops, seminars and dialogues are held focusing on contemporary health system issues for advocacy purposes.
TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY AND GOOD GOVERNANCE FOR HEALTH SYSTEM STRENGTHENING AND ADVANCING UHC AGENDA IN BANGLADESH: THE ROLE OF FRONTLINE HEALTH CARE SERVICE PROVIDERS IN IMPROVING
PERFORMANCE
PI: Professor Syed Masud Ahmed, Director, CoE-HS&UHC, BRAC JPGSPH.
Co-PI: Professor Sabina Faiz Rashid, Dean and Director, CGSRHR, BRAC JPGSPH.
Coordinator: Dr Nahitun Naher, Senior Research Fellow, BRAC JPGSPH.
Objective: A mixed method study to explore practices related to the delivery of responsive, equitable and quality services by the health care service providers and managers at the PHC levels.
Timeline: August 2017 - August 2021.
Donor: UK Department for International Development (DFID).
Partners: School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS), University of London and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), United Kingdom.
A GLOBAL SOCIAL SCIENCES NETWORK FOR INFECTIOUS THREATS AND ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE (SONAR-GLOBAL)
PI: Professor Syed Masud Ahmed, Director, CoE-HS&UHC, BRAC JPGSPH.
Co-PI: Professor Sabina Faiz Rashid, Dean and Director, CGSRHR, BRAC JPGSPH.
Coordinator: Dr Nahitun Naher, Senior Research Fellow, BRAC JPGSPH.
Objective: A three year-long project aimed to develop an open-access platform to support the Sonar-Global activities and to share them broadly; adapt, test, and evaluate vulnerability assessment tools on the ground and engagement models to facilitate collaboration across multiple stakeholders and also, to create, pilot and evaluate curricula for training social scientists in preparedness and response to infectious threats and through curricular development and piloting social science knowledge of infectious threats among non-social sciences actors.
Timeline: January 2019 - December 2021
Donor: European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme.
Partners: Institut Pasteur (IP); Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development (AIGHD); Stichting Nederlands Instituut Voor Onderzoek Van De Gezondheidszorg (NIVEL); Medical University of Vienna (MUW); Mahidol University; Public Health Centre of the MoH of Ukraine; University College London (UCL); Makerere University (MU); Centre Regional De Recherche Et De Formation A La Prise En Charge Clinique Du Vih Sida et Maladies Associees de Dakar (CRCF); Institute of Development Studies (IDF); CENSIS; Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU); University of Malta (UM); University of Ljubljani.
ASSESSMENT OF POST-CRASH CARE SYSTEM FOLLOWING ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS IN SELECTED AREAS OF BANGLADESH
PI: Professor Syed Masud Ahmed, Director, CoE-HS&UHC, BRAC JPGSPH.
Co-PI: Dr Nahitun Naher, Senior Research Fellow, BRAC JPGSPH.
Coordinator: Dr Nahitun Naher, Senior Research Fellow, BRAC JPGSPH.
Objective: A cross-sectoral assessment to assess the current pre-hospital (by-stander and ambulance) and hospital- based post-crash care services in order to get a holistic picture of the post-crash system existing in Bangladesh and to improve the system in the country so that Road Traffic Crash (RTC) mortality and morbidity are reduced.
Timeline: January 2020 – Ongoing.
Donor and Partner: The World Bank.
FEASIBILITY OF IMPLEMENTING TRAUMA REGISTRY AND TRAUMA SYSTEMS IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM IN FOUR DISTRICT HOSPITALS OF BANGLADESH WITH HIGH RTI BURDEN
PI: Professor Syed Masud Ahmed, Director, CoE-HS&UHC, BRAC JPGSPH.
Coordinator: Dr Nahitun Naher, Assistant Director, BRAC JPGSPH.
Timeline: June 2021-2022
Study team initiated formation of a steering committee in the four selected study hospitals involving the facility authorities to support the implementation of the project. An official order was issued by respective facilities for this purpose led by the respective facility heads. Steering committees included Casualty Department, the Professor and Heads of all relevant departments such as Casualty, Surgery, Orthopedics, Anaesthisiology, Medicine, Neurosurgery, Transfusion Medicine, Radiology and the hospital statistician.
Study team organised steering committee meeting in the four hospitals on following dates-:
Updates from January-March 2022
- Completed trauma registry first quarter data analysis based on data collected from October-December 2021 from selected four facilities (Cumilla Medical College Hospital, Bogura Medical College Hospital, Tangail district Hospital and Jhenaidah District Hospital). Prepared and submitted the first quarter report to the World Bank.
- Completed trauma registry second quarter data collection from January-February 2022 from selected four facilities (above mentioned). Core and supplementary data on road traffic injury patients were collected from emergency, casualty and relevant departments on road traffic injury patients. Team is currently analyzing the data to prepare a second quarter report. Core and supplementary data on road traffic injury patients were collected.
Research Collaboration on Technology, Equity and the Right to Health: New business model for Pharmaceutical R&D in Global South
Updates from April-June 2022
In April, Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) were conducted with pharmaceutical industry representatives, regulatory bodies, researchers and financers to explore the current scenario of research and development in the country.
A three-member team from the Centre of Excellence for Health Systems and Universal Health Coverage (CoE-HS & UHC)at BRAC JPGSPH went to Geneva, Switzerland, to attend a meeting at the Global Health Centre of the Graduate Research Institute (IHEID) for the research project Research Collaboration on Technology, Equity and the Right to Health: New business model for Pharmaceutical R&D in Global South. Teams from IHEID, Geneva and Universidad de los Andes, Columbia also participated in this meeting of 12-13 May, 2022. The two-days meeting discussed work done so far among the researchers and external partners, next steps for the project report and lastly, the future steps to have a database about pharmaceutical and medicine innovation in Global South.
From BRAC JPGSPH, Professor Syed Masud Ahmed, PI and Director, CoE-HS&UHC; Dr Nahitun Naher, Assistant Director, CoE-HS & UHC; and Dr Bushra Zarin Islam, Senior Research Associate joined the meeting. The team presented preliminary findings of the work done so far in and the plan for next activities in two presentations.