Urban family planning program of Bangladesh: Issues and challenges

Extremely inadequate government primary health care (PHC) structure exists in cities in Bangladesh. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) play an important role in providing basic health and family planning services to a limited proportion of the urban population. However, NGO programs are time-bound and subject to the availability of development assistance. Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of growth of urban populations among developing countries. For this teeming urban population, there is no structured family planning service. To ensure continuous family planning services in urban areas it is critical to develop a sustainable primary health care structure with the thrust on family planning services. However, there are several challenges, including the absence of a strategy for providing primary health care and family planning services to the urban population. This report provides the details of a workshop organized to identify issues and challenges to family planning service delivery in the urban area and to develop the future course of the urban health and family planning program