{"entity":{"id":"heu-bangladesh","kind":"institution","name":"Health Economics Unit, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (Bangladesh)","aka":["HEU","Health Economics Unit"],"tldr":"The health ministry unit that tracks what Bangladesh spends on health and runs the government's pilot health insurance card for households below the poverty line.","summary":"The Health Economics Unit is the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's focal point for tracking health expenditure. By its own procurement notice of 6 April 2024 it had completed six rounds of the Bangladesh National Health Accounts, covering 1997 to 2020, and was commissioning a seventh for 1997 to 2023. The sixth round, presented in January 2023, put out-of-pocket payments at 68.5 per cent of total health expenditure in 2020, against a target of 32 per cent by 2032 in the Health Care Financing Strategy 2012-2032, as reported from the launch by The Business Standard; the report itself could not be downloaded.\n\nThe unit also runs Shasthyo Surokhsha Karmasuchi, a social health protection scheme for households below the poverty line. Piloting began in one upazila of Tangail district in March 2016 and was extended to two more in September 2017; by February 2023 it covered all of Tangail, six more districts and both Dhaka city corporations. At launch the health ministry said cardholders could receive free care for 50 diseases at upazila and district hospitals, with the government paying an annual premium of 1,000 taka per household for care worth up to 50,000 taka a year. The coordinates on this record are a Dhaka city centroid; the unit's website did not respond on 4 November 2026.","asOf":"2026-11-04","links":[{"label":"BPPA: Health Economics Unit notice, Bangladesh National Health Accounts VII (6 April 2024)","url":"https://bppa.gov.bd/advertisement-services/details-8645.html"},{"label":"BPPA: Health Economics Unit notice, scheme operator for Shasthyo Surokhsha Karmasuchi (16 February 2023)","url":"https://www.bppa.gov.bd/advertisement-services/details-7927.html"},{"label":"The Business Standard: Out-of-pocket spending on treatment rises further (4 January 2023)","url":"https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/health/out-pocket-expenditure-treatment-increases-further-562758"},{"label":"The Daily Star: Free healthcare for the poor (24 March 2016)","url":"https://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/free-healthcare-ultra-poor-1199365"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":["dghs-bangladesh"],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"city":"Dhaka","country":"BD","lat":23.81,"lng":90.41,"institutionType":"government","website":"https://heu.portal.gov.bd","programs":["Bangladesh National Health Accounts","Shasthyo Surokhsha Karmasuchi (social health protection pilot)","Health Care Financing Strategy 2012-2032"]},"route":"/institutions/heu-bangladesh/","neighbours":{"institution":[{"id":"dghs-bangladesh","kind":"institution","name":"Directorate General of Health Services (Bangladesh)","route":"/institutions/dghs-bangladesh/"}]}}