Health experts at a workshop on Monday said 70 percent of deaths in the country are now attributed to Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), including heart diseases, cancer and diabetes and kidney ailment.

NCDs, such as heart diseases, stroke, cancer, kidney diseases, respiratory diseases, diabetes, and hypertension, are the most prevalent causes of death in Bangladesh and account for 70 percent of the total deaths, they told the workshop, a press release said.

To effectively curb the growing prevalence of NCDs, it is essential to secure adequate funding for this sector in the upcoming budget for the fiscal year 2024-25.

The demands were made at the workshop for journalists titled “Budgetary Allocation to Combat NCDs: Bangladesh Perspective” held at the city’s BMA Bhaban.

Despite the alarming increase in deaths related to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Bangladesh, the allocation in the national budget is inadequate for prevention of the NCDs, the health experts added.

The workshop was organized by research and advocacy organization PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) with support from Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI). A total of 28 journalists working in print, television and online media participated in the workshop.

The speakers said the budgetary allocation dedicated to combat NCDs is insignificant as the government allocated only 4.2 percent of total health budget.

At the workshop, Dr. Md. Enamul Haque, Director General (Additional Secretary), Health Economics Unit said, “The World Health Organization recommends countries to allocate at least 15 percent of their total budget to the health sector.”

“Considering the practical context, it has been recommended in the latest strategic investment plan of the Bangladesh government to increase the budgetary allocation in health sector to 7 percent,” he added.

The health budget has remained within 5 percent over the past few years, Enamul said, adding it is necessary to increase the budgetary allocation to combat the NCD-linked diseases.

Muhammad Ruhul Quddus, Bangladesh Country Lead of GHAI, said, “Many lives can be saved and the risk of serious non-communicable diseases such as heart attacks and strokes can be reduced to a great extent by allocating necessary funding to ensure availability of anti-hypertensive medicines in community clinics alone.”

Executive Director of PROGGA, ABM Zubair, Journalists, healthcare professionals, leaders of Anti tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA) attended the workshop while PROGGA’s Coordinator Sadia Galiba Prova made the keynote presentation at the workshop.