State alone cannot ensure delivery of many services: Hossain Zillur

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Economist and former caretaker government adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman today called for greater involvement of schools and local government bodies in raising awareness about…

Economist and former caretaker government adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman today called for greater involvement of schools and local government bodies in raising awareness about diabetes and preventing the disease.

He said teachers could play an important role through school health programmes, while local authorities should give public health greater priority alongside roads and other infrastructure.

He was speaking as chief guest at a World Diabetes Day discussion organised by the Diabetic Association of Bangladesh (BADAS) at the BIRDEM auditorium in Dhaka.

Hossain Zillur, executive chairman of the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC), also said many services could not be delivered by relying on the state alone.

He cited BADAS’s expansion over seven decades as an example of how non-state institutions could take services closer to people. Its network of 95 affiliated associations, he said, could offer lessons for developing countries.

Similar approaches were needed to improve primary healthcare and tackle violence against women, he added.

Presenting the keynote, Farzana B Ibrahim, acting joint director (hospital administration) at BIRDEM, said 189 of 1,836 people screened during a week-long free testing programme at the hospital were found to have diabetes.

The figure represents 10.29 percent of those tested. She also said an estimated 1.3 crore people in Bangladesh have diabetes.

BADAS President National Professor AK Azad Khan warned that type 2 diabetes often develops without noticeable symptoms.

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