Virtual 5th EC meeting of Bangladesh Urban Health Network (BUHN)!

The meeting officially started at 11:00 AM, with EC members and guests from prominent organizations participating virtually, via Zoom. Mr. Abul Kalam Azad (Ex-Principal Secretary, Government of Bangladesh), the president of BUHN, gave a gracious introductory speech. After the introduction, Dr. Jucy Merina Adhikari (Health Manager, UNICEF), EC Member, BUHN, gave her welcome speech and asked for approval of the "5th EC meeting-minutes," suggesting several adjustments based on feedback from the attendees.

During the meeting, Dr. Shamim Hayder Talukder (Chief Executive Officer, Eminence), Member Secretary of BUHN, presented an overview of BUHN's activities since the previous EC meeting and provided updates on the infographics, e-newsletters, and news articles publication process in the Nature Journal for the special issue on Urban Health and Communicable Diseases by BUHN. After the presentation, Dr. Magrub Aref Jahangir (Health Officer, UNICEF), Technical Support Team Member, shared his experience of BUHN participation in the International Conference on Urban Health (ICUH-2023), which was held on November 6–9 in Atlanta, USA. 

Md. Emranul Haq (Consortium Program Manager, Concern Worldwide), one of the guest in the meeting, gave his perspective on the influence and destination of policy of urban health on our future. Urban health issues could be significantly impacted by being included in the election manifesto in any way, according to Dr. Ikhtiar Uddin Khandakar (Director, Health Program Care), EC member of BUHN. This is because political commitment to the issue can lead to changes in policy at the advocacy level.

Manik Mahmud (Member, Smart Bangladesh Netwrok, a2i) was invited in the meeting as observatory personnel, highly recommended the identification of the sectoral problem of health with the help of public-private partnerships by ensuring funding from non-government organizations. He, further, advised arranging urban health network lead events or conferences regarding the global agenda, with follow-up strategies to increase govt.-donor network. Additionally, he encouraged the BUHN secretariat to share BUHN network activities with Smart Bangladesh Network (SBN) Facebook page so that he could inform the Govt. and other organizations about the activities of the BUHN network.

“Need to create space for engaging other health service provider organizations and bringing them as a part of the urban health network” said Dr. Khairul Islam (Regional Director, Wateraid), Vice-President of BUHN.

 At the end of the EC meeting, a number of decisions were made, such as a greater emphasis on the private sector's involvement in urban health initiatives, a deadline from the BUHN secretariat for submitting articles for the organization's Facebook page or e-newsletter, and the initiation of long-term planning for the organization of a national or regional conference. Dr. Khairul Islam (Regional Director, Wateraid), Vice-President of BUHN, expressed gratitude to all participants for their contributions and encouraged BUHN to continue its valuable work in advancing urban health in Bangladesh.