Bangladesh
A Muslim-majority South Asian country with one of the thinnest published evidence bases in the register.
9 domains reviewed · 7 high-confidence · 2 dated estimates · 9 material gaps
WHO region: South-East Asia. World Bank income group: Income group not yet retrieved.
- Domains reviewed
- 9 of 9
- Hospice: 2 of 4
- Backed by a primary document
- 1 of 9
- Open questions
- 13
- Sources behind this dossier
- 19
- Newest source 2026
Lessons from Bangladesh
- Having no legal cap on opioid quantity or prescription length still leaves access blocked when prescribing is tied to physician grade and licensing, as reported in Bangladesh.370
- Where palliative care is mostly paid out of pocket, free community programs that include medicines can protect poor families, though they depend on outside funding to last.372,373
- Services that plan for home death should expect families to carry most costs and to shape what the patient is told, and should support caregivers in both roles.359,372,382
- Community health workers who share language and culture with families can deliver home palliative care to children in informal settlements when medicines and supplies are free.373
Palliative care
Is morphine available in Bangladesh?
Opioid supply. Is a therapeutic opioid physically available in the wards that need it? Every country on this question
- 0.11 mg per personSOURCE-CHECKED · 2020 DATA
Morphine consumption, Bangladesh, 202052
Last checked 2026-09-24.
As reported in a 2025 review of Nepal, on the same basis as its Nepal figure.
Cite this figure:
Is local oral morphine production continuous, and what is consumption on a morphine-equivalent basis?
Help answer it:Search PubMedHow does Bangladesh regulate opioids for pain?
Narcotics regulation. What licensing regime governs stocking and dispensing, and when did it last change? Every country on this question
The Narcotics Control Act 2018 establishes the licence, permit and pass system governing possession and dispensing.41
What administrative steps does a hospital actually follow to obtain a stocking licence?
Help answer it:Search PubMedWho can prescribe morphine in Bangladesh?
Prescriber authority. Who is legally allowed to prescribe, and can that group be widened? Every country on this question
Bangladesh sets no legal limit on opioid quantity or prescription length. Prescribing is restricted by physician level and requires a license, which the authors of a 2022 Dhaka-area survey of palliative care staff call the main barrier. In a 2014 national physician survey, 53% were unaware of the Bangladesh Narcotics law, 1990.370,371
Which physician grades can hold an opioid prescribing license, and can district or primary care doctors prescribe morphine?
Help answer it:Search PubMedHow does palliative care reach patients in Bangladesh?
Service delivery. Through what structure does care actually reach a patient at home? Every country on this question
- 18 peopleSECONDARY SOURCE
Community members completing the volunteer training course, Bangladesh, 201843
Last checked 2026-09-07.
A three day course at the Narayanganj community palliative care hub, completed 30 June 2018.
Cite this figure:
The Centre for Palliative Care at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University runs the Compassionate Korail community programme with the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance, begun in 2015 and extended to Narayanganj.42,43
How many community palliative assistants are working nationally, and under whose supervision?
Help answer it:Search PubMedWho pays for palliative care in Bangladesh?
Financing. Who pays for the drug, the visit and the workforce? Every country on this question
Families pay most palliative care costs in Bangladesh. At two Dhaka inpatient centers the average cost was 41 170 BDT (about 339 USD), and out-of-pocket spending made up 73.5% of the total. A hospital-led children's home care program in Korail slum was free to families, including medicines, and its team names financial sustainability as a challenge.372,373
Does any government scheme or insurance cover palliative care or morphine outside these pilot and urban programs?
Help answer it:Search PubMedHow are palliative care clinicians trained in Bangladesh?
Training and recognition. What credential exists, who awards it, and does anyone recognize it? Every country on this question
Community palliative care assistants are trained through short multi-day courses run by the Centre for Palliative Care with its partners.43
Is there a nationally recognised credential for a community palliative assistant?
Help answer it:Search PubMedHow does Bangladesh prevent opioid misuse without blocking pain relief?
Opioid safeguards. How are misuse and diversion controlled, and are treatment and naloxone available, without blocking pain relief? Every country on this question
Among 135 palliative care providers, morphine syrup was the main opioid (68.1%), oxycodone and buprenorphine were unavailable, only 10.4% knew national opioid policies, and 60.7% cited prescribing restrictions. At palliative outpatient units of two Dhaka teaching hospitals, 51.42% of 140 patients with cancer were prescribed morphine. MSF staff in Bangladesh and India described burdensome regulatory processes for obtaining opioids.370,559,119
Does Bangladesh run a prescription monitoring system for opioids, and are opioid agonist treatment and naloxone available outside Dhaka?
Help answer it:Search PubMedHow do children get palliative care in Bangladesh?
Children's palliative care. How do children with life-limiting conditions get palliative care and the medicines they need? Every country on this question
A hospital pediatric palliative care pilot in Dhaka served 200 children with cancer in 2014 to 2015, with psychosocial support the most common intervention and morphine the most prescribed medicine. A community program in the Korail informal settlement gives children free home care from trained community health workers, including medicines, equipment and psychosocial support.562,373
Has the Dhaka hospital pediatric palliative care service continued beyond the pilot, and how many children does it reach each year?
Help answer it:Search PubMedHow is palliative care delivered during crises in Bangladesh?
In 2017, 62% of 156 Rohingya refugees with serious health problems had significant pain and pain treatments were largely ineffective, while caregivers gave an average of 13.8 hours of care a day. MSF is integrating pediatric palliative care at its Goyalmara Hospital in Cox's Bazar, and a Project ECHO course trained 250 clinicians in the refugee response.563,564,565,119
Is oral morphine now reliably stocked in health facilities in the Rohingya camps, and how many refugees receive palliative care?
Help answer it:Search PubMedHospice care in Bangladesh
How the hospice model works here, who can use it, who pays and who it reaches. Covered 2 of 4.
What does hospice care look like in Bangladesh?
Hospice model. What does hospice mean here, who runs it, and in what settings? Every country on this question
Does Bangladesh have any dedicated inpatient or home hospice services distinct from hospital palliative care units and community palliative projects, and who runs them? PubMed articles read in this session did not describe one.
Help answer it:Search PubMedWho can get hospice care in Bangladesh?
Hospice eligibility. Who can enter hospice, on what criteria, and how late do patients arrive? Every country on this question
If hospice services exist in Bangladesh, what admission criteria (diagnosis, prognosis, referral) do they use?
Help answer it:Search PubMedWho pays for hospice care in Bangladesh?
Hospice funding. Who pays for hospice care: a public benefit, insurance, charity or families? Every country on this question
A 2025 national study reports that no government-funded hospice services exist in Bangladesh. The few formal providers are NGOs and hospitals. Only 6.93% of the 1,270 seriously ill adults surveyed had health insurance.359
How do NGO hospices such as Hospice Bangladesh finance care, and what do families pay out of pocket?
Help answer it:Search PubMedHow many people reach hospice in Bangladesh?
Hospice reach. How many dying people use hospice, and who is left out? Every country on this question
Authors of a 2025 national survey describe hospice facilities in Bangladesh as limited, with fewer than ten NGOs and hospitals offering formal services, mostly concentrated in Dhaka. In the same survey, 7.1% of community respondents said they understood the concept of palliative care, and 39.5% were comfortable with the idea of hospice care.359
How many patients use hospice each year, and how many come from outside Dhaka?
Help answer it:Search PubMedWhat fills the gap in Bangladesh
How people get care outside formal services: families, faith communities, volunteers, health workers, healers, other medicines and charity. Described, not scored.
- Family caregiving
At two tertiary hospitals, 83.1% of caregivers of patients with advanced cancer showed medium to high intensity of withholding the truth from the patient. This was highest among adult children caring for terminally ill parents.382
Subnational evidence- Community health workers and home-based care
In a Dhaka urban slum, a program led by community health workers provides children with chronic conditions free medication, supplies, food, caregiver training and psychological support. Of 25 caregivers, 96% could not do paid work because of their child's needs.383
Single-site evidenceSelf-reported
Sources cited here
- 52Shrestha R, Shrestha S, Shrestha S, Shrestha A, Paudel BD, Munday D.
Opioid accessibility for palliative care in Nepal: a review of achievement and remaining challenges. Indian Journal of Palliative Care 2025;31(1):74-78. DOI 10.25259/IJPC_118_2024. Oral morphine licensed for domestic manufacture since 2009 and produced by a single manufacturer that imports all raw material from Europe; prescribing limited to registered medical practitioners; national morphine consumption and fentanyl patch cost against the minimum daily wage.
- 42Chowdhury MK, Ahmad N, Biswas FN, Farheen N, Ferdous L, Akter KM, Connor SR.
Program evaluation: improving the quality of life of older people in an urban slum in Bangladesh. Palliative Care and Social Practice 2021;15:26323524211063217. DOI 10.1177/26323524211063217. Evaluation of the Compassionate Korail community programme run by the Centre for Palliative Care at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University with the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance, begun in 2015.
- 43ehospice.
UK Aid Direct funded project trains community members to provide compassionate care in Narayanganj City Corporation, Bangladesh, 10 August 2018. Eighteen community members completed a three day palliative care volunteer training programme on 30 June 2018 at the Narayanganj community palliative care hub.
- 41Government of Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018 (Act No. 63 of 2018).
Superseded the 1990 Act. Establishes the Department of Narcotics Control under the Ministry of Home Affairs and a licence, permit and pass system governing production, possession and dispensing of narcotics. The administrative steps a hospital follows to obtain a stocking licence are not set out in the Act text.
- 370Kashmeeri M, Islam ANMS, Banik PC
Opioid-Related Challenges Faced by Palliative Healthcare Providers in Both Hospital and Home Care Settings: A Multi-Center-Based Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study. Public Health Chall 2025;4(1):e70013. Survey of 135 licensed palliative care staff at hospital and community sites in Dhaka and Narayanganj in 2022; describes opioid prescribing and dispensing restrictions in Bangladesh; Dhaka-area scope and self-reported data. Full text read.
- 371Khan F, Ahmad N, Iqbal M, et al.
Physicians knowledge and attitude of opioid availability, accessibility and use in pain management in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Med Res Counc Bull 2014;40(1):18-24. Survey of 1000 physicians in 47 districts (58.3% response) on opioid knowledge, prescribing preferences and awareness of narcotics law; lead author is a national palliative care advocate. Abstract read.
- 372Biswas J, Aktar NM, Islam N, et al.
Analysis of Inpatient Hospital-Based Palliative Care Costs for Patients with Cancer in Bangladesh: A Multicenter Study. Value Health Reg Issues 2026;57:101624. Prospective costing of inpatient palliative care for 151 cancer patients at one government and one trust-run center in Dhaka; two urban sites only. Abstract read.
- 373Chowdhury MK, Bezzahou M, Khanom M, et al.
Developing Community-Based Palliative Care for Children: A Community Case Study from an Urban Informal Settlement in Bangladesh. Health Serv Insights 2023;16:11786329231162996. Case study of a pediatric home palliative care program in Korail slum led by a government hospital team; written by the program's own clinicians (self-evaluation), single site. Abstract read.
- 559Sultana S, Afrin S, Noor SB, et al.
Pattern of Prescribing Analgesics and Their Response in Cancer Patients Attending Outpatient Department of Palliative Care Service in Two Teaching Hospitals of Bangladesh. Mymensingh Med J 2024;33(2):501-508. Prospective observational study of analgesic prescribing for 140 outpatients at palliative care units of two Dhaka teaching hospitals. Abstract read.
- 119Bouothmani A, Gutierrez R, Lamrous A, Burza S, Maixenchs M, Richardson K.
Access to opioids for palliative care in humanitarian settings: two case studies of Medecins Sans Frontieres experience in India and Bangladesh. BMC Palliative Care 2025;24(1):90. DOI 10.1186/s12904-025-01673-x. Interviews on a project in Patna, Bihar, 2020 to 2022: limited availability, burdensome regulatory processes, dispensing confined to hospital pharmacies in several states, and lack of prescriber training. Full text read.
- 560Biswas J, Bhuiyan AKMMR, Alam A, et al.
Relationship between perceived social support and mental health status of the advanced cancer patients receiving palliative care in Bangladesh. Palliat Care Soc Pract 2024;18:26323524241256379. Cross-sectional study of perceived social support and depression, anxiety and stress among 115 advanced cancer inpatients at one Bangladesh tertiary palliative unit. Abstract read.
- 561Akter S, Sarker M, Hossain P, et al.
Solidarity and suffering: enrolled terminal patients' and their caregiver's experiences of the community-based palliative care programme in an urban slum of Bangladesh. Palliat Care Soc Pract 2022;16:26323524221095104. Qualitative study of 19 patients and caregivers in the Momotamoy Korail community palliative care project run by BSMMU in a Dhaka slum; program staff involved. Abstract read.
- 562Doherty M, Power L, Thabet C
Delivering Hospital-Based Pediatric Palliative Care: The Symptoms, Interventions, and Outcomes for Children With Cancer in Bangladesh. JCO Glob Oncol 2020;6:884-891. Retrospective review of 200 children who received pediatric palliative care during a 2014 to 2015 pilot at a Dhaka tertiary hospital; program leaders are authors. Abstract read.
- 359Shimul MMH, Dowel IJ, Roy P, et al.
Choices and challenges in end-of-life care and decision-making: a nationwide cross-sectional study in Bangladesh. BMC Palliat Care 2025;24(1):283. Survey of 1,270 seriously ill adults across all eight divisions; the statements on hospice supply and funding are background claims by the authors, not measured outcomes. Full text read.
- 382Biswas J, Khanam SA, Tauhid MS, et al.
Situations in which caregivers and patients are likely to collude: Perspectives from caregivers of advanced cancer patients in Bangladesh. Palliat Support Care 2025;23:e68. Mixed-methods study of caregivers at 2 tertiary hospitals on non-disclosure of diagnosis and prognosis. Abstract read.
- 383Chowdhury MK, Shopna K, Lynch-Godrei A, et al.
Providing Home-Based Support for Children with Chronic Conditions in an Urban Slum: Experiences from a Community-Based Palliative Care Program in Bangladesh. Glob Pediatr Health 2021;8:2333794X21999155. Interviews with 25 caregivers of children in a community health worker-led program in one Dhaka slum; co-authors include staff of the program (Compassionate Korail Project). Abstract read.
- 563Doherty M, Power L, Petrova M, et al.
Illness-related suffering and need for palliative care in Rohingya refugees and caregivers in Bangladesh: A cross-sectional study. PLoS Med 2020;17(3):e1003011. Cross-sectional community survey in November 2017 of 156 Rohingya refugees with serious health problems and 155 caregivers in Bangladesh camps; convenience sample. Abstract read.
- 564Doherty M, Lynch-Godrei A, Azad T, et al.
Using Virtual Learning to Develop Palliative Care Skills Among Humanitarian Health Workers in the Rohingya Refugee Response in Bangladesh. J Med Educ Curric Dev 2022;9:23821205221096099. Evaluation of a Project ECHO palliative care course for 250 clinicians in the Rohingya refugee response; self-evaluation by program team. Abstract read.
- 565Yantzi R, Hadiuzzaman M, Sen Gupta PK, et al.
Doing our best and doing no harm: A focused ethnography of staff moral experiences of providing palliative care at a Médecins Sans Frontières pediatric hospital in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. PLoS One 2023;18(7):e0288938. Focused ethnography of staff moral experiences of pediatric palliative care at the MSF Goyalmara Hospital serving Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar; single site. Abstract read.