Availability of Hypertension and Diabetes Mellitus Care Services at Subdistrict Level in Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND: In Bangladesh, the rapid rise of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) has become a significant public health concern. This study assesses the readiness of hypertension (HTN)- and diabetes mellitus-related services at primary health-care facilities in Northeast Bangladesh. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional survey using a semi-structured interview was conducted between April 2021 and May 2021 among 51 public primary health-care facility staff (upazila health complexes [UHCs]). The NCD-specific service readiness was assessed using an adapted questionnaire from the WHO manual of Service Availability and Readiness Assessment and included four domains: guidelines and staff, basic equipment, diagnostic facility, and essential medicine. For each domain, the mean readiness index score was calculated. Facilities with a readiness score of above 70% were considered to be ready. RESULTS: The diagnostic capacity of the UHCs ranged from 0% to 88.9%, the availability of essential medicine and basic equipment varied between 15.4%-69.2% and 36.4%-100%, respectively, whereas the score in availability of basic amenities was between 57.1% and 100%. The score for the protocol drugs used to manage HTN was 52.9%, whereas for diabetes, it was 88.2%. The average general service readiness score for the facilities was 59.1%. Overall 17.6% of the facilities were assessed to be ready. CONCLUSION: Currently, primary health-care facilities are not ready to implement the national guidelines for diagnosing and treating diabetes and HTN due to shortages of medications, staff, and diagnostic materials.

Evidence mapping of current status, impact, prevention and control measures from rabies research in Bangladesh (2010-2021): a scoping review protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Rabies is one of the priority zoonotic diseases in Bangladesh. Though the rabies cases have been reduced over the years due to the mass dog vaccination programme since 2011 throughout the country, it is still a major health problem in Bangladesh with an annual estimated 200 000 animal bite cases and over 2000 human deaths. This article presented a scoping review protocol for published literature on rabies in Bangladesh and believes to create impact in Bangladesh by identifying the research gap and guiding the evidence-informed policy adaptation from its findings in the future which will strongly underscore the elimination of Rabies and reduce preventable mortalities. We will attempt to synthesise evidence descriptively on burden and impact of rabies in human population as well as the awareness level and effective control and preventive measures from the available studies on rabies from 2010 to 2021 in Bangladesh. METHODS: The scoping review is planned following the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology and the major guiding steps are: defining the research questions, determining the eligibility criteria with population, concept and context strategy, stating the plan for evidence searching, selection and data collection, searching for evidence and selection of literature by the inclusion criteria, data collection, descriptive analysis and presentation of the data and reporting of the findings. Search will be conducted for both published and grey literature in English language. Blinded screening processes will be adapted to prevent bias among reviewers. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: A scoping review synthesises existing knowledge and does not necessitate ethical approval. Results of this scoping review will be submitted to a journal for publication, presented in relevant conferences and disseminated on social media platforms (eg, Twitter) among the global health stakeholders.