Urban Primary Health Care Services in Developing Countries

Urban Primary Health Care (PHC) has been a neglected sub sector in Bangladesh as in most other South Asian countries. The urban population has been growing rapidly, mostly because of rural¿urban migration by the poor and the vulnerable. The absolute number of poor urban households is increasing. Studies have shown that the health indicators of the urban poor are worse than those of the rural poor because of poorer living conditions, and limited urban PHC. Failure to provide urban PHC can have serious negative consequences beyond urban areas because infectious diseases can spread from urban to rural areas. Rapidly growing urban slums without adequate PHC may lead to epidemics of emerging or reemerging communicable diseases. Investments in other urban services such as water and sanitation, combined with the strengthening of health services, will improve the health and well-being of the urban poor. The Project will build on the gains of UPHCP-I, and strengthen the pro-poor focus, nutrition provision, and project implementation.