| Summary: | This study was aimed at evaluating the Acute RespiratOr')' Tract Infection (ARI)
Control Program of BRAC (Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee - the
largest NGO in Bangladesh) with the purpose of enhancing its effectiveness. So,
along with diagnostic deliberation. problem solving has been a major imperative of
the study.
In the health care sector in Bangladesh, the strategic management issues enjoy little
attention. Most emphases are usually spent to establish sophisticated hospital with
huge physical infra-structures focused to an urban clientele. Even in its impoverished
economy, large hospitals are not few. But a great irony is that severai thousands of
beds in these hospitals lie vacant or not utilized. This situation is not only because of
inadequate amenities in state-run hospitals, rather largely owes to lack of strategic
management. Previously the sector was run on charity or public funds granted by the
altruistic motive of the government, so its financial sustainability Oi competitive
positioning in the market were not perceived as a worthy concern. But now, the
global economic constraints as well as competitive health care initiatives of some
entrepreneurial genius have crept into this domain df charity and altruism. The health
care sector is now called the 'health care industry' - especially in developed
countries. so the competitive positioning of a health program essentially becomes
crucial in present day perspectives. In USA, health care went from S 11.5 billion in
1960 and the tenth largest portion of economy to near1y S 1 trillion in 1995 - only
second in size to real estate ( Duncan et al., 1995). Due to such rapid boom in this
sector, strategic thinking, strategic planning and strategic management of health
care industry have attained the pick of importance now-a-days.
The ARI control program of BRAC is funded by donors. The program can not
continue relying on donations. hence can not help BRAC fulfill its mission of serving the rural people in the long run. Therefore its strategic planning and management
are crucial not only for its .effective functioning but for self-reliance. In Bangladesh,
the formal health care sector does very little for the rural majority, it seldom stretches
out beyond the country's urban boundary. The rural poor are still dependent on.
indeed hostage to, quacks and untrained practitioners. In this context. BRAC's ARI
control program has to compete for patients. mar1<ets, revenues, employees and
more; and as such needs competitive strengths to be successful and sustainable.
This report, though restricted in its deliberation by much constraints, has been
focused on addressing those issues with a view at positioning the program as an
effective caregiver - both at present and in the future. So in this report. emphasis will
be on strategic planning component more so than on conventional evaluation
analysis.
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