â Prof. Dr. Syed Masud Ahmed, Director, Centre of Excellence for Health Systems and Universal Health Coverage
"Motivation each day could come from the small gainsâlike finding out what should be done to improve blood transfusion services, how to begin a Trauma Registry programme in Bangladeshi hospitals for Road Traffic Injury patients and so on."
Prof. Masud Ahmed: After graduating from Dhaka Medical College, during my early career, I tried to do private practice in a small chamber attached to a drug shop in Mirpur area. During these times, I had to see poor and very poor patients from the fringe of society, among others. I soon discovered that instead of earning from them, I had to give them money from my own pocket. After a few months, I realized that I could do little to solve their problems in this way. The problem is big and needs something big for solution. I then moved to BIRDEM, and later to icddr,b, where I had firsthand knowledge of doing research in public health. I developed an interest in research and found it to serve larger groups of people in a public health context. This inspired me to serve larger groups of people by mitigating the effects of social determinants of health through health systems research and practice.
Motivation each day could come from the small gainsâlike finding out what should be done to improve blood transfusion services, how to begin a Trauma Registry programme in Bangladeshi hospitals for Road Traffic Injury patients, or influencing policies to combat antimicrobial resistance, or reducing healthcare provider absenteeism and so on. And beyond that, a commitment to lifelong learning, and the thrill of researching complex health problems, and sustain that energy day in and day out.
Prof. Masud Ahmed: Not any particular person, to say honestly!
Prof. Masud Ahmed: âA pluralistic, resource-poor, fragmented system burdened with financial irregularities. Including lack of transparency and accountabilityâ.
Prof. Masud Ahmed: Tackling health systems of the LIC/LMICs in a way so that a minimum standard of care can be delivered in all circumstances and for all people, through strengthening of the PHC and District health systems.
Prof. Masud Ahmed: Well, I wanted to share our activities ( Centre of excellence for Health Systems and UHC at BRAC JPGSPH/Brac University ) and ideas with a broader public health audience who have a stake in Bangladesh's health systems. Currently, Bangladesh Health Scenario as I have become a little bit busy to spare dedicated time for this!
Prof. Masud Ahmed: The fact that my work is being felt important to others in the field (as revealed by citation scores of my published papers etc.). That said, I donât have anything to accomplish; I donât operate in that way!
Interview conducted by Monaemul Islam Sizear
Professor Syed Masud Ahmed is the Director of the Centre of Excellence for Health Systems and Universal Health Coverage (CoE-HS&UHC), and advisor for the Health Systems module of the MPH programme at BRAC JPGSPH. Professor Ahmed is a graduate of Dhaka Medical College (1978), a David E. Bell Fellow from Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies (1997), and a recipient of PhD in health systems from Karolinska Institutet University, Sweden, in 2005. His research interests include studying the impact of development interventions on the lives of the poor and the marginalized including the mechanisms of such impact; health and gender equity; human resources for health, close-to-community health workers and universal health coverage; health sector corruption; and AMR including epidemic preparation.
Under the CoE-HS&UHC, he is leading research, advocacy and capacity-building activities relevant to Bangladeshâs journey towards UHC. He was a member of the Global Health Policy and Health Systems Research committee of the NWO/WOTRO, Netherlands (2009-â13), Health Workforce Advocacy Initiative (HWAI) Steering Committee (2014), and Joint Health Systems Research Committee of the Wellcome Trust (2013â2016). Dr Ahmed has published extensively in peer-reviewed Journals and authored book chapters, monographs and working papers. He was also a peer reviewer for many renowned public health journals such as Bulletin of WHO, World development, Social Science and Medicine, Health Policy and Planning, BMC Public Health, Tropical Medicine and International Health, Lancet Global/Regional Health etc.
