Dhaka, Sept. 3 -- Bangladesh's burgeoning cities face a glaring governance gap in health. By law the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) sets overall health policy, but the provision of primary care in urban areas has been assigned to the Local Government Division (LGD) of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives . In practice this split has shown confusion. Rapid urbanization (urban population ~37% in 2020, rising to ~44% by 20301) has outstripped the capacity of either sector acting alone. An official review bluntly notes a "lack of effective coordination among MoHFW, LGD/MoLGRDC and city corporations/municipalities" on urban health . Local officials themselves admit they often do not understand the...