Bangladesh: Participation and accountability in health and population.

This case study in Bangladesh is used to illustrate the potential and limitations of community participation. During the pre-health reform years the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) of Bangladesh implemented over 120 projects related to health and family planning in the mid-1990s resulting in overlaps and wastage of resources. Though a consortium of 25 donors has existed since the early 1970s it was only in 1996 that the consortium led by the World Bank assisted the government to prepare a Health and Population Sector Strategy (HPSS). To implement the HPSS a five-year (1998-2003) Health and Population Sector Programme (HPSP) was formulated by the government in 1998 again with assistance from the World Bank and the donor consortium. (excerpt)