Youth innovation key to solving healthcare challenges: Zubaida Rahman

Ziaur Rahman Foundation Vice President Dr Zubaida Rahman has called on Bangladesh's young people to develop practical, evidence-based solutions to the country's growing healthcare challenges, saying innovation, training and stronger collaboration will be key to improving health services across the country.

Addressing a workshop titled "Pathways to Becoming Health Entrepreneurs in Bangladesh" as the chief guest at a hotel in the capital today (7 July), she said the government wanted to harness the ideas and innovative thinking of the younger generation to improve healthcare services, reports UNB.

"For this, plans are being taken to provide training to young people. Alongside creating health entrepreneurs at the local level, arrangements will also be made to develop skilled healthcare workers. This will help improve the quality and accessibility of healthcare services at the grassroots level," she said.

Zubaida said becoming a health entrepreneur did not mean starting a company or commercialising healthcare. "It means using creativity, evidence and discipline to solve real health problems. It also means identifying gaps and creating practical solutions."

She said Bangladesh had a unique opportunity because of its large youth population, whose energy, digital skills, creativity and sense of social responsibility were among the country's greatest strengths.

"We can provide young people with training and mentorship opportunities so that they can transform their ideas into reality. For this, they need to be connected with healthcare systems, researchers, social and private-sector innovators, investors and government institutions," she said.

Zubaida further noted that universities could play an important role by creating an environment where students learned through practical experience and teachers worked collaboratively across different disciplines.

She said non-communicable diseases (NCDs) were increasing in Bangladesh, while significant challenges remained, particularly in women's and children's healthcare, adding that effective measures were being taken to address those gaps.

Highlighting the link between illness and poverty, Zubaida said that healthcare was a fundamental right, not a privilege.

"However, due to years of neglect and lack of accountability in the healthcare sector, people in Bangladesh have to bear around 72% of healthcare expenses from their own pockets. As a result, illness has become one of the major causes of poverty," she said.

Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain, and Health Affairs Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Dr SM Ziauddin Hyder, among others, attended the programme.