Publication: Silver Opportunity: Case Studies - Time to Focus on Healthy Aging: Challenges, Opportunities, and Recommendations for Bangladesh
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2023-08-24
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2023-08-24
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Bangladesh is home to one of the largest populations of older adults in the world. Driven by increasing life expectancy at birth, this population is increasing. By 2040,one in five Bangladeshis will be 60 years old or older. The increase in lifespan isaccompanied by a greater burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), whichaccount for 70 percent of all deaths in the country. These chronic conditions tend toaffect older adults, leading to an increased demand for health care services by thisgroup. NCDs are also expensive to treat, placing financial hardship on families in low resource settings. While the Government of Bangladesh has committed to providing many of the basic rights of older adults, the health care needs of older adults remain unmet. A lack of adequate funding and services point to a need for a health care system that caters to the specific needs of older adults, such as long-term care and consolidation of care. Other supportive structures also appear to be missing, such as a health insurance fund that covers common chronic conditions faced by older adults, which would remove barriers to accessing health care. A bill proposing a pension scheme is currently undergoing approval in Bangladesh’s legislative system. The primary health care (PHC) system, too, is geared toward the treatment of acuteillnesses rather than providing older Bangladeshis with integrated, long-term, people centered care. This study aimed to better understand the current capacity of PHC inBangladesh to provide care oriented towards older persons. The authors carried outa desk review of global and Bangladeshi literature on aging populations, followed bystakeholder consultations and key informant interviews with government officials,health professionals, and developmental organizations. Field visits to PHC facilitieswere also carried out to assess whether they met the internationally accepted criteriafor age-friendly infrastructure. The data were compiled and analyzed according to theFIRE framework (Financing, Innovation, Regulation, Evaluation) for older adult care.Despite the large burden of NCDs, only USD0.82 is spent per capita on NCD control,much lower than the USD1.50 recommended by the World Health Organization(WHO). Increasing spending on NCD management can help alleviate the financial pressure on households to care for older adults.
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“World Bank Group. 2023. Silver Opportunity: Case Studies - Time to Focus on Healthy Aging: Challenges, Opportunities, and Recommendations for Bangladesh. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/40263 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
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