INSTITUTE OF HEALTH ECONOMICS
UNIVERSITY OF DHAKA
DHAKA 1000, BANGLADESH
BACKGROUND
In order to rapidly improve the health status of the people en masse, the Government of Bangladesh has been implementing a comprehensive package of reforms in the Health and Population Sector. In the latest Health and Population Sector Programme (HPSP), the targetted coverage of the sector has been substantially expanded. The magnitude of health services to be devoted per person has been increased, and the measures have been proposed to drastically enhance the quality of services. Implementation of new plan requires huge amount of resources, but relative availability of resources has been declining. Given the growing scarcity of resources for the Sector, the only way to increase the coverage and improve the quality of services is to intensively utilize the existing facilities and allocate the resources to the sectoral activities more efficiently. Increased allocative efficiency of resources requires, on the other hand, imparting regular training in health economics to the managers and professionals of the Sector and carrying out research on health economics issues.
The Government has increasingly felt the need for training of the personnel of the Sector and conducting research in health economics, and started sending officials abroad to study health economics. It later became evident that the cost of overseas training of each person is so high that the government will not be able to train the required number of personnel using the small amount of fund received from the donors. In such a situation, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) approached the University of Dhaka to establish an Institute to offer post-graduate degrees and conduct training programmes in Health-Economics and carry out research on health economics issues. As a result, the Institute of Health Economics (IHE) was established in the University of Dhaka in July 1998 with the financial support of the Department for International Development (DFID), and the University of Dhaka.
MISSION
To establish an academic within the University of Dhaka for teaching and training in order to develop, strengthen and build up capacity of the health sector professionals, academicians, and health service managers, and for organizing and conducting practical policy-oriented research for the Sector.
OBJECTIVES
- To provide professional degrees in Health Economics.
- To train health sector personnel on Health Economics, Health Policy, Health Care Management, and Health Systems.
- To identify policy-relevant health economics/systems research and projects.
- To assist Government of Bangladesh in review and formulation of policies, analysis of the health systems, and advise government and semi-government organizations on health sector issues.
- To develop links with national and international agencies and organizations engaged in the development of and research for health and population sector, particularly those addressing health economics, health systems, health care management, and policy issues in order to strengthen the Institute’s capacity for research and training in Health Economics.
- To undertake research and studies on healh economic issues sponsored by public and private organizations independently or in collaboration with national or international organizations.
ACTIVITIES OF THE INSTITUTE
The activities of IHE are:
- To run post graduate degree programmes
- To conduct short term training
- To carry out reseach, provide consulting service assistance to health sector, and
- To develop an Information Resource Centre
Academic Degrees and Short Term Training
Post-Graduate Diploma in Health Economics: The Institute offers a Post-Graduate Diploma in Health Economics. The subjects offered in this programme include:Economics, Health Economics, Health Services Management, Public Health, Bio-Statistics, Epidemiology, Mathematics, Health Policy and Planning, and Techniques of Economic Evaluation.
M.Sc. in Health Economics:The Institute offers a one-year M.Sc. degree in Health Economics. The subjects offered in this programme include Economics, Health Economics, Health Care Management, Public Health, Epidemiology, Applied Economics and Research Methods, Health Policy and Planning, Health Care Evaluation and Health Care Financing.
M.Phil. in Health Economics:The Institute offers M.Phil. in Health Economics. This is a two-year research degree.
Ph.D. in Health Economics: The Institute offers Ph.D. degree in Health Economics. This research degree involves the presentation of a thesis on a research topic in health economics field.
Short Term Training Courses: The Institute also offers short courses on health economic issues for the managers and officials of the health and population sector. The duration of such short courses are mostly 2 to 4 weeks, and the courses are attended by professionals in the health and population sector. The Institute is also planning to organize short courses on Operations Research, Health Care Financing, Economic Evaluation of Health Care Interventions, etc.
Research Activities
The Institute has undertaken research studies in different areas of Health Economics including Hospital Management, Health Care Management and Policy, Health Care Evaluation, Health Care Financing, etc.
Information and Resource Centre
A Resource Centre encompassing a computer network, documentation system and data archives is being established within the Institute. The Resource Centre will collect, document and store data sets on health sector issues from data collecting organizations, and will collect research materials. It will facilitate the researchers and health sector policy makers with data and information collected from within and outside the country.
LINKAGES WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS
The Institute organizes seminars and workshops to discuss different health policy and health economic issues. These workshops are held in collaboration with national and international organizations conducting research and funding projects in the Health and Population Sector, particularly those addressing the health policy and health economic issues.
The Institute has established linkage with national and international agencies, organization, and academic institutions. Through such linkage, faculty members of the institute are supporting in research and training activities of other academic institutions and international research centres. On the other hand, through such linkage faculty members of the Institute are also receiving training and professional degrees from other institutions.
GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT
The functioning of the Institute is governed by a Board of Governors. The Board of Governors comprises of distinguished personalities from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the University of Dhaka and other Organizations. It is chaired by the Vice Chancellor of the University.
The overall academic policy matters are decided by the Academic Board of the Institute. The day to day academic activities are carried out by the Academic Committee composed of all the faculty members, and the Co-ordination and Development Committee deals with the administrative issues. The Director of the Institute is responsible for overall management.
FACULTY MEMBERS
The faculty members of the Institute at present include three Professors, two Assistant Professors and four Lecturers.
The faculty members have research and teaching experiences in the fields of Health Economics, Economics, Applied Econometrics, Health Care Management and Operations Research, Public Health, Research Methods and Epidemiology.
A number of guest faculty members who are mostly from different departments of the University of Dhaka, ICDDR,B, NIPSOM and Health Economics Unit of the MOHFW, are also associated with the Institute. Some visiting scholars from the universities of UK also assist the Institute in teaching and research activities.
For further details please contact:
Director
Institute of Health Economics
University of Dhaka, Dhaka- 1000, Bangladesh
Tel:9661920-59/6303,4459. Fax:880-2-8615583
E-mail: duregstr@bangla.net
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