Assistive Products in Bangladesh: The state of the art and Problems

Bangladesh has more population than Japan, although the establishment of this country was 16 December 1971 (only 46 years ago). Therefore, so many fields of Bangladesh have been in developing stage so far after the founding. In these fields, the assistive product is especially important for the disabled persons in Bangladesh. However, there is no proper official distribution system and financial support for assistive products in Bangladesh. The purpose of this research is to figure out actual scenario of assistive products in Bangladesh and to suggest effective official distribution system of assistive products along with confirming the effectiveness of the suggested system. As the first step of our research, documentation survey and fieldwork were carried out. In the documents, information on fabrication, import, distribution, and price of assistive products in Bangladesh was surveyed. In the fieldwork, typical two rehabilitation centers were visited and investigated. The result of these surveys revealed that assistive products' production, import, distribution in Bangladesh were in the primitive stage. However, the law in conjunction with person with disability and the law concern with assistive products have been maintained firmly which justify future development.