ArticleHealth policy and planning2015
Who serves the urban poor? A geospatial and descriptive analysis of health services in slum settlements in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Article in Health policy and planning, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 62 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
62 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Choice of primary healthcare providers among population in urban areas of low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review of literature.BMC primary care · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Exploring the roles of informal healthcare providers in urban settings to improve access and quality of care for the urban poor: experience from Bangladesh, Ghana, Nepal, and Nigeria.Health policy and planning · 2026Article
- What happens when public primary care is ill-prepared to respond to non-communicable diseases: a mixed-method study of diabetes and hypertension care in urban Nepal.Journal of global health · 2026Article
- Hybrid Governance: Negotiating justice for health services in informal urban settlements in Dhaka, Bangladesh.Health policy and planning · 2026Article
- Privatization of maternal care and women's access to quality healthcare: a case study on middlemen in Bangladesh.Health policy and planning · 2026Article
- How prepared are urban primary care facilities to manage hypertension and type 2 diabetes in Dhaka, Bangladesh? A cross-sectional descriptive study of government urban dispensaries and NGO clinics.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Socio-economic inequalities in hypertension prevalence and care cascade in Bangladesh: Insights from a nationally representative survey.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Determinants of care-seeking for ARI/Pneumonia-like symptoms among under-2 children in urban slums in and around Dhaka City, Bangladesh.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Prevalence and associated factors of post-traumatic stress disorder among women with an experience of intimate partner violence (IPV): Insights from urban slums of Bangladesh.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2025Article
- Choice of primary healthcare providers among population in urban areas of low- and middle-income countries-a protocol for systematic review of literature.Systematic reviews · 2024Article
- Identification, mapping, and self-reported practice patterns of village doctors in Sitakunda subdistrict, Bangladesh.Journal of global health · 2024Article
- Article
- Uncovering the determinants of health in deprived urban neighborhoods in Accra, Ghana: a qualitative and participatory reconnaissance study.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Factors associated with fathers' involvement in infant and young child feeding and nurturing care in the urban slums of Bangladesh: A cross-sectional study.Food science & nutrition · 2023Article
- Review
- Unplanned urbanization and health risks of Dhaka City in Bangladesh: uncovering the associations between urban environment and public health.Frontiers in public health · 2023Review
- Faecal markers of intestinal inflammation in slum infants following yogurt intervention: A pilot randomized controlled trial in Bangladesh.Frontiers in microbiomes · 2023Article
- Prevalence and risk factors for hepatitis C virus infection in an informal settlement in Karachi, Pakistan.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- The effects of social determinants on children's health outcomes in Bangladesh slums through an intersectionality lens: An application of multilevel analysis of individual heterogeneity and discriminatory accuracy (MAIHDA).PLOS global public health · 2023Article
2 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In Bangladesh, the health risks of unplanned urbanization are disproportionately shouldered by the urban poor. At the same time, affordable formal primary care services are scarce, and what exists is almost exclusively provided by non-government organizations (NGOs) working on a project basis. So where do the poor go for health care? A health facility mapping of six urban slum settlements in Dhaka was undertaken to explore the configuration of healthcare services proximate to where the poor reside. Three methods were employed: (1) Social mapping and listing of all Health Service Delivery Points (HSDPs); (2) Creation of a geospatial map including Global Positioning System (GPS) co-ordinates of all HSPDs in the six study areas and (3) Implementation of a facility survey of all HSDPs within six study areas. Descriptive statistics are used to examine the number, type and concentration of service provider types, as well as indicators of their accessibility in terms of location and hours of service. A total of 1041 HSDPs were mapped, of which 80% are privately operated and the rest by NGOs and the public sector. Phamacies and non-formal or traditional doctors make up 75% of the private sector while consultation chambers account for 20%. Most NGO and Urban Primary Health Care Project (UPHCP) static clinics are open 5-6 days/week, but close by 4-5 pm in the afternoon. Evening services are almost exclusively offered by private HSDPs; however, only 37% of private sector health staff possess some kind of formal medical qualification. This spatial analysis of health service supply in poor urban settlements emphasizes the importance of taking the informal private sector into account in efforts to increase effective coverage of quality services. Features of informal private sector service provision that have facilitated market penetration may be relevant in designing formal services that better meet the needs of the urban poor.
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