A return of malaria and an AIDS pandemic are still the major threats facing the world although general health care has improved remarkably dur ing the past four decades, the World Rank (WB) said yester

By 2000 the growing toll from Acquired Immuno Deft dency Syndrome (AIDS) In developing count rias could easily rise to more than 1.8 million deaths annually." the WB sold la IU World Development Report 19*3 m-

lenaed simultaneously across the world

The malaria parasite s Increased resistance to available drugs could lead to a doubling of malaria deaths to nearly Oro million a year within a decade the report. titled "Investing in Health", says

It says over the paat forty years, evrragp life expectancy has Improved more than dur mg the entire previous^apan of the report. In 1880 life ew partaney in ths developing

countries was only 40 yeara which Increased to 63 years in 1990.

Twenty-eight out of every IOO children died before their fifth birthday In 1980 but In 1990 the number fell to ton. However, for Bangladesh. the rale Is .till higher than the normal al 137 per thousand

The successes owe tn part

creasing education around the ^otoe and also because af govern msrrts I effort to expand health services. '

Despite these successes, developing countries are still suffering from higher infant mortality rate, diarrhoea, malnutrition. tuberculosis and pregnancy-related deaths, the report says.

Tobacco-related deaths

alone are likely to double by the first decade of the next century to two million a year, if the present smoking pattern continues.

Earlier, in a pro-publication press conference, local World Bank officials said that Bangladesh needs more allocation in the national budget for achieving the goals of basic health care for the mass people.

“Bangladesh has made significant progress over the years tn the health sector but more allocation is required to reach the goal," Dr. Philip Gowers, chief of the population and health unit of the World Bank Resident Mission, Dhaka, told reporters. The health sector's allocation in the current budget is 5.8 per cent.

Ms-Jce-Peng Tan. senior economist at the World Bank, head office in Washington, briefed newsmen in Dhaka about the report on Thursday last.

The report, 16th in a series, suggests a three-pronged approach to health policy for governments tn developing and former socialist countries.

These approaches are : to foster an environment that enables households to improve health; to improve government spending on health; and to promote diversity and competition.

Thi suggestive reforms could translate into longer and healthier lives for people around the world and especially for more than one billion poor. By adopting the recommended public health measures, developing countries could reduce their burden of disease by 25 per cent, it asserts.

The 330-page report says that opposition to reforms come from many quarters like the drug companies, equipment manufacturers, urban elites and groups of health professionals, but* despite these obstacles developing

countries including Chile, South Korea, Malawi, Tunisia and Zimbabwe have shown that major reform is possible.

The World Bank observes that although the donors have expressed a strong commitment to human resource development In recent years, the share of aid for health has reduced drastically.

The bank report, therefore, recommends a 50 per cent increase of aid during the next five years — from four billion to six billion US dollars a year — to cover the transitional costs of health policy reform and to control AIDS.

For Bangladesh the report says the bank along with ten bilateral agencies are contributing 440 million dollars to the five-year Fourth Population and Health Project, and the government is providing 165 million dollar.

The United Nations Population Fund, the WHO and the Unicef are supplying project management, procurement and technical assistance, the report explains.