Shibbir Ahmed, New York – Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Thursday said his government wants to build a “Healthy Bangladesh” where healthcare begins at home and in the community, placing primary healthcare at the centre of the country’s health reform agenda with particular emphasis on women and children.
“My government is transforming our health system, guided by a simple principle: ‘Prevention is better than cure.’ We want to build a Healthy Bangladesh, where healthcare begins in the home and community,” he said.
The Prime Minister made the remarks while opening a high-level side event titled “From Commitment to Action: Integrating Midwifery into Primary Health Care to End Preventable Maternal and Newborn Deaths” at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
Bangladesh co-hosted the event with Sweden in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly. The event focused on integrating professional midwifery into primary healthcare to improve maternal and newborn care and reduce preventable deaths.
Tarique Rahman outlined plans to strengthen community-based primary healthcare and expand the role of professional midwives as members of multidisciplinary primary healthcare teams.
He said his government intends to recruit 100,000 additional health workers, 80 percent of whom will be women, to connect families with the health system, identify health risks at an early stage and facilitate timely care.
“One professional has a particularly important role in this continuum: the midwife,” he said.
“A professional midwife can become a woman’s trusted health professional from preconception through the postnatal period,” he added.
The Prime Minister said the government has decided to recruit 25,000 professional midwives across Bangladesh and that the process has already begun. He said the midwives would provide essential reproductive healthcare, support antenatal care, promote safe and respectful childbirth, identify complications early and facilitate referrals. They would also support mothers and newborns through breastfeeding, immunisation and healthy childhood development, he said.
Tarique Rahman said Bangladesh had built an important foundation for professional midwifery, including through professional midwifery education, stronger regulation and deployment of midwives at district, sub-district and union-level facilities.
“We now have more than 11,000 licensed midwives, with the objective of reaching 25,000 by 2030,” he said. He also acknowledged the contribution of Sweden and UNFPA to the development of professional midwifery in Bangladesh.
With UNFPA’s cooperation, Bangladesh has expanded midwifery-led care across 22 districts, where skilled midwives have supported more than 154,000 births and managed critical maternal cases, he said.
“These are not merely statistics. They represent mothers returning home safely, and newborns beginning life with hope,” the Prime Minister said. He also outlined the government’s plan to develop an integrated digital health ecosystem under which every citizen would have a Health Card linked to a digital health record and electronic referral system.
“For a woman in rural Bangladesh, her care can be registered close to home, her visits tracked, and her risk factors recorded. If referred to a higher-level hospital, the necessary information should travel with her,” he said.
The Prime Minister said the government’s vision for women’s health extends beyond pregnancy and childbirth and covers women’s health throughout the life course. This includes adolescent health, reproductive health and family planning, as well as prevention and early detection of cervical and breast cancers, he said. “Midwifery must therefore be part of a broader platform for women’s health within Primary Health Care,” Tarique Rahman said. He stressed that the next phase of the initiative should be driven by national ownership and sustainable domestic investment.
“As we open today’s discussion, I leave you with one ambition: Every woman should have access to a skilled professional midwife as part of her Primary Health Care team, close to where she lives,” he said.
“For Bangladesh, this means deploying midwives nationwide, strengthening community health services and referral pathways, and connecting citizens through a modern digital health system,” he added.
“Together, these steps will help us build a healthy, thriving Bangladesh. And this is how we move from commitment to action,” the Prime Minister said.
The event brought together ministers, UN agencies, development partners and health experts to discuss ways of translating commitments on midwifery and primary healthcare into sustainable investments and stronger health systems. UNFPA described the integration of midwifery into primary healthcare as a key strategy for expanding equitable, high-quality and dignified maternal and newborn care.
