Making Way Towards a Sustainable Empathetic Society

Bangladesh is the eighth most populous country in the world having 2.15% of the entire world population within its boundary!¹ When only 7.3% of the total population lived in urban areas back in 1970, the country recorded 41% of its total 173 million as urban inhabitants in 2023. At 1.03%, 2023 till date, is showing to be the year having the lowest population growth rate.² 1967 was logged to have had the highest growth rate at 3.28 percent.¹

The average age in Bangladesh is 27.9 years.¹ According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 27.8 % of the entire population are between 15 to 29 years of age and only about 6.2% people are over 65.³ These statistics might explain why the current policy initiatives are more youth driven to yield the demographic dividend.

A prediction model forecasts that from 2073 onwards the world will have more people aged above 65 than below 15 due to increase in life expectancy and decline in fertility. South Asian population will peak by 2059 before it begins to decline.⁴

So, what is the significance of these numbers?

In alignment with the world predictions, Bangladesh will also transform from its existing youth bulge and have more elderly population from the third quarter of this century. The foundation of future decades of Bangladesh are being laid down now. To truly capitalize human potential, we must assure that our youths are nurtured with education, empathy, skills, while upholding the social values and are provided with access to health. The story of Bangladesh will not only be about emancipation from poverty and moving towards a middle-income economy with a large consumer capitalism, but it should be more holistic.

The country has pledged to attain universal health coverage by 2032, a very ambitious aim but not an impossible one. Many formulae already exist in the social welfare states, Bangladesh needs to identify what is best suited for its people. The statistics above enumerates that people are moving from rural to urban areas, life is faster paced, and needs are changing. This is also shifting the disease pattern; the earlier decades saw majority of deaths from communicable diseases but now 67% of deaths in Bangladesh are from non-communicable diseases (NCDs).⁵

Since health is an out-of-pocket expense in Bangladesh, the healthcare cost annually drives a significant number of people to poverty. A simultaneous multi-dimensional approach, inclusive of all domains relating to life, needs to be addressed to prevent any future collaborative economic catastrophe related to health in a mature demography.

The most integral part of this journey is the human relationship with food and disease prevention. Some of the basic awareness are listed here that are crucial to fostering a robust population:

• Health and nutrition education must begin from elementary school.
• School menu selection to provide fortified food.
• Educating expectant mothers and young mothers about food.
• Vaccination completion and record keeping.
• Ensuring continuous education on food intake to prevent chronic diseases and metabolic syndromes that leads to complications that are expensive to manage.
• Standardization of food quality served in fast food and regular restaurants.
• Social infrastructure to provide safe water, hygiene facilities, and better air quality.
• Regular healthcare screening to prevent development of NCDs.
• Surveillance system to screen emerging communicable diseases and prevalence of NCDs.
• Mental health wellbeing and eradication of child marriage.
• Care in continuum with digital access to medical records.
• On the supply side- ensuring more healthcare workers to provide the care.
• Food chain management- beginning from selection of right seeds, using digital monitoring tools to utilize resources like water and fertilizers appropriately along will harvesting at the right time.
• Lowering the emissions of climate change drivers- the greenhouse gases from all sources which also includes agriculture, food distribution, and livestock management to prevent diseases related to climate change and overall protection of the environment.

The Science and Art of Empathy in Healthcare: Why it Matters⁶

These elements are all already identified, and most programs are being executed in different formats. However, cohesiveness is missing, things are happening in silos which need to be broken. A healthy communication strategy with the beneficiaries and insisting on their participation to build the critical mass will be core to ensure any major movement. In this case- whether in primary care facilities or tertiary care or by expanding health care worker immersion in the rural and urban areas— impactful awareness creation is needed amongst our people to seek and demand for their basic health care needs. Out-of-pocket healthcare is expensive and can very rapidly change the social status of families. Till an inclusive social welfare scheme is designed, preventive measures in the public and private health sectors aimed at keeping NCDs at bay must be the dominant feature of Bangladeshi healthcare system. To achieve that, all the touchpoints mentioned above need to be addressed, and various stakeholders in the health sector must be brought onboard to deliver access and coverage for affordable healthcare.

The 2070s will be a different demographic Bangladesh consisting of ageing population. We must build the foundation now if we expect all our citizens to receive reasonably priced healthcare in the coming decades. It is imperative to cultivate the youths, adolescents, and children of today and ingrain empathy among other skills that will subsequently build a society of principled generations that was always the foundation of our forefathers.