People In Rural Bangladesh Research Articles

A qualitative study of blood donation perceptions and beliefs among rural Bangladeshi adults

In this study, an attempt was made to investigate the blood donation behavior of rural people in Bangladesh. The main objective of this research is to explore the beliefs and perceptions of rural people regarding blood donation. For this purpose, the study was conducted in Nuruddinpur village at Sujanogor Upazilla in the Pabna district, which is situated in the west central Bangladesh. A combination of in-depth interviews, key informant interviews (KIIs) and storytelling was used in the study. Moreover, few focused group discussions (FGDs) and yard meetings were also used as data collection methods in this study. The results show that there are cultural components involved in providing and receiving blood. Blood and blood donation have different and versatile meanings that change according to the individual’s role in donation. People relate blood to several cultural elements and issues while talking about blood donation, which shows that the choice and context of blood donation are influenced by personal beliefs, social and religious ties and experiences, and, of course, gender. In addition, some blood-related stigmas were also revealed in the study area. This study recommends that these sociocultural beliefs and lay perceptions should be considered and that pathways be taken to improve blood donation activities.

Impact of Motivational Workshop on Financial Inclusion of Rural People in Bangladesh: Evidence from Randomized Controlled Trial

Despite the expansion of financial institutions and the proliferation of mobile financial services, reaching the unbanked and bringing them under formal financial services has become a policy concern in many developing countries. Due to the lack of financial accounts, unbanked people prefer informal, risky, and inconvenient mechanisms for receiving, sending, and transferring money. Previous studies rely much on common interventions like no account maintenance and opening fees, easy documentation processes, and money subsidies for opening financial accounts. This study aims to examine the impact of the motivational workshop on opening savings accounts through causality among the unbanked people in a setting where the respondents are unbanked despite having all the requirements and many institutional offers to open savings accounts. We encouraged the unbanked people through a one-hour-long motivational workshop to open savings accounts. Based on our cross-sectional data and randomized controlled trial experiment among the 505 unbanked rural people at Dhubil union under Sirajganj in Bangladesh, we have evidence that motivational workshop positively impacts opening accounts by 32.33 percent. However, the account opening rate differs in terms of respondent’s preference for financial institutions. Our study also finds that unbanked people have the highest preference for mobile financial services for opening accounts resulting in 15.33 percent. The result of this study has some policy implications for adopting effective strategies for universal financial access in many developing countries.

Frequency and risk factors stratification of hypertension among the rural population of Bangladesh

Background and Objectives: Hypertension is one of the major risk factors of premature morbidity and mortality in our daily clinical practice. Various studies carried out in the urban settings, but there is scarcity of epidemiological data regarding hypertension among the rural people in Bangladesh. Therefore, this current study has been designed to find out the frequency and risk factors stratification of hypertension among the rural people in Jashore, Bangladesh. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study recruited 1812 participants above 18 years attending on national hypertensive week of 2019 in Bagherpara and Keshabpur upazila (subdistrict) health complex in Jashore, Bangladesh. 2020 International Society of Hypertension Global Hypertension Practice Guidelines had been demonstrated to classify hypertension. Results: Out of the total study population, the frequency of hypertension was 20.6% (Grade 1 and Grade 2 hypertensive patients 15.8% and 4.9%, respectively), and high normal blood pressure was 9.0%. The mean age of the study population, Grade 1 hypertensive and Grade 2 hypertensive cohorts were 42 ± 16, 49 ± 15 and 51 ± 14 years, respectively, with a male and female ratio was 1:2. Progressive rise of mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure were noticed with increasing age. Age (P: <0.001), sex (P: 0.004), occupation (P: <0.001), BMI (P: <0.001), family (P: <0.001) and past history (P: <0.001) of hypertension, sedentary life style (P: 0.004), additional salt intake (P: <0.001) and smoking (P: 0.011) were significantly associated with hypertension following bivariate analysis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that age after 50 years (AOR = 1.866, 95% CI: 1.210-2.876), positive past history of hypertension (AOR = 3.493, 95% CI: 2.676-4.558), additional salt intake (AOR = 0.591, 95% CI: 0.453-0.770) and obesity (AOR = 3.389, 95% CI: 1.830-6.274) were significantly associated with developing hypertension. Conclusion: High frequency of hypertension was found among the rural population in Bangladesh where presence with a lot of significantly associated risk factors. The data would be helpful for the health policymakers dealing noncommunicable diseases to reach the sustainable goal and mitigate morbidity and mortality of cardiovascular diseases in Bangladesh.

Quality of life among women living in Haor Basin in Bangladesh and its socio-economic predictors

The Haor region in Bangladesh is a relatively more poverty-driven area than other rural areas of Bangladesh. There is very little information about the quality of life of women living in Haor areas. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess Haor women's quality of life and identify predictors. The data from the project titled ‘Livelihood and Socio-economic well-being of Women Living in Haor Basin: A Cross-sectional Survey’ were utilized in this study. Results showed that household income was lower than that reported in the household income and expenditure survey or HIES Survey 2016 for rural people in Bangladesh. Around half of them actively participated in the household economic decision-making process and one- fifth were satisfied with their household and personal financial condition. Only 30% rated their quality of life as good or very good. Contribution to household income, importance and control over household economic decisions, and household savings and loans, were significantly associated with the overall quality of life and its domains. This study’s findings would help to design and implement policies and development program to improve the living standard of women living in Haor Basin and thus help to achieve the relevant targets under specific sustainable development goals.

Frequency and Risk Factors Stratifi-cation of Hypertension among the Rural Population of Bangladesh

Background: One of major predictors of premature mortality and morbidity; and scarcity of epidemiological data regarding hypertension among the rural people in Bangladesh, the study has been designed to find out the frequency and risk factors stratification of hypertension among the rural people in Jashore, Bangladesh. Methods: A cross-sectional study recruited 1812 participants above 18 years attending on national hypertensive week of 2019 in Bagherpara and Keshabpur upazila (sub-district) health complex in Jashore, Bangladesh. 2020 International Society of Hypertension Global Hypertension Practice Guidelines had been demonstrated to classify hypertension. Results: Out of the total study population, the frequency of hypertension was 20.6% (Grade 1 and Grade 2 hypertensive patients 15.8% and 4.9% respectively), and high normal blood pressure was 9.0%. The mean age of the study population, Grade 1 hypertensive and Grade 2 hypertensive cohorts were 42 ±16, 49±15 and 51±14 years respectively with a male and female ratio was 1:2. Progressive rise of mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure occurred with increasing age. Age(p:<0.001), sex(p:0.004), occupation (p:<0.001), BMI(p:<0.001), family(p:<0.001) and past history (p:<0.001) of hypertension, sedentary life style(p:0.004), additional salt intake(p:<0.001) and smoking(p:0.011) were significantly associated with hypertension following bivariate analysis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that age after 50 years (AOR=1.866, 95% CI: 1.210-2.876), positive past history of hypertension (AOR=3.493, 95% CI: 2.676- 4.558), additional salt intake (AOR=0.591, 95% CI: 0.453-0.770) and obesity (AOR=3.389, 95% CI: 1.830-6.274) were significantly associated with developing hypertension. Conclusion: High frequency of hypertension was found among the rural population in Bangladesh where a lot of significantly associated risk factors. The data would be helpful for the health policy makers dealing Non-communicable diseases to reach the sustainable goal and mitigate morbidity and mortality of cardiovascular diseases in Bangladesh. Bangladesh J Medicine 2023; Vol. 34, No. 2(1) Supplement: 205

People’s Perception towards COVID-19 Delta Variant in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has detected a newly mutated Delta variant that is getting more hazardous for the entire world. Since this variant is far more hazardous than the previous one, the purpose of this study is to determine people's reactions to this variant, how to prevent the spread of the Delta variant, and what factors can lead to government failures to control it in Bangladesh. Data were obtained from 417 participants using convenient sampling technique. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were the methods of analysis employed. The results showed that in Bangladesh, persons aged 30 to 49 were more likely than others to be aware of the COVID-19 Delta variant. Since social media and newspapers are important sources of information, it was discovered that those who did not use social media or read newspapers had low perception of the new COVID-19 Delta variant. Furthermore, individuals who had a COVID-19 infection history together with their friends and family members had a greater perception of the COVID-19 Delta variant than those who did not. The results also showed that rural people in Bangladesh had low perception of the new COVID-19 Delta variant than the urban people. The study recommends that government should force everyone to wear masks and provide alternative income-generating activities for marginalized individuals in order to limit the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. Moreover, government should create more awareness and intensify health education in order to restrict the spread of the new COVID-19 variant.

Prevalence and associated factors of suicidal behaviors among Bangladeshi rural community people: Findings from the 'BD ComMen Study'.

Suicide is considered as one of the major public health concerns, which can be prevented with cost-effective and timely intervention. In Bangladesh, very few studies assessed the suicidal behavior of rural community people. Thus, this Bangladesh Community Mental Health Study (BD ComMen Study) attempted to understand the current situation of suicidality in Bangladeshi rural community people considering three-time frames: lifetime, past year, and past month. A cross-sectional study was conducted in a rural community in Bangladesh between May 17 and 31, 2022, using a cluster sampling technique. Information on socio-demographics, COVID-19-related factors, depression, anxiety, insomnia, and suicidal behaviors was collected. The Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test and logistic regression were used to analyze the data. During their lifetime, 33.1% of the rural community people had suicidal thoughts, whereas 5.5% made a plan for suicide and 1.8% attempted suicide. The prevalence of past-year suicidal ideation was 3.9%, whereas 1.4% had a suicide plan. In addition, 0.6% had past-month suicidal thoughts, although none of them had planned or attempted suicide. The factors associated with suicidal behaviors included males, lower age, lower educational grade, low-earning jobs, living in a government-provided house, family history of mental health and suicide, and suffering from anxiety and insomnia. Suicidal behaviors among the rural community people are of great concern as most of the rural people in Bangladesh do not have enough mental health literacy for treatment-seeking due to a high level of mental health-related stigma. Thus, this study would likely help to initiate further studies and stimulate suicide prevention programs, because most suicide can be prevented.

Effects of chronic exposure to arsenic on the fecal carriage of antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli among people in rural Bangladesh.

Antibiotic resistance is a leading cause of hospitalization and death worldwide. Heavy metals such as arsenic have been shown to drive co-selection of antibiotic resistance, suggesting arsenic-contaminated drinking water is a risk factor for antibiotic resistance carriage. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and abundance of antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli (AR-Ec) among people and drinking water in high (Hajiganj, >100 μg/L) and low arsenic-contaminated (Matlab, <20 μg/L) areas in Bangladesh. Drinking water and stool from mothers and their children (<1 year) were collected from 50 households per area. AR-Ec was detected via selective culture plating and isolates were tested for antibiotic resistance, arsenic resistance, and diarrheagenic genes by PCR. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) analysis was done for 30 E. coli isolates from 10 households. Prevalence of AR-Ec was significantly higher in water in Hajiganj (48%) compared to water in Matlab (22%, p <0.05) and among children in Hajiganj (94%) compared to children in Matlab (76%, p <0.05), but not among mothers. A significantly higher proportion of E. coli isolates from Hajiganj were multidrug-resistant (83%) compared to isolates from Matlab (71%, p <0.05). Co-resistance to arsenic and multiple antibiotics (MAR index >0.2) was observed in a higher proportion of water (78%) and child stool (100%) isolates in Hajiganj than in water (57%) and children (89%) in Matlab (p <0.05). The odds of arsenic-resistant bacteria being resistant to third-generation cephalosporin antibiotics were higher compared to arsenic-sensitive bacteria (odds ratios, OR 1.2-7.0, p <0.01). WGS-based phylogenetic analysis of E. coli isolates did not reveal any clustering based on arsenic exposure and no significant difference in resistome was found among the isolates between the two areas. The positive association detected between arsenic exposure and antibiotic resistance carriage among children in arsenic-affected areas in Bangladesh is an important public health concern that warrants redoubling efforts to reduce arsenic exposure.

Risk factors of non-specific low back pain in a rural community of Bangladesh: A case-control study

Background: Data pertaining to risk factors of nonspecific low back pain (NSLBP) among rural Bangladeshi is scarce. This study explored the risk factors associated with NSLBP among rural Bangladeshi adults. Methods: A community-based study was done in Sonargaon Upazila of Narayanganj district of Bangladesh. A total of 343 NSLBP patients were recruited as cases, based on the Bangla version of Community oriented program for control of rheumatic diseases (COPCORD) questionnaire. An equal number of age and sex matched subjects without any rheumatic disease were recruited from the same community. A total of 15 probable factors were analyzed. Age-sex adjusted univariate and age-sex with 13 risk factors adjusted multivariate conditional logistic regression analyses were done. Results: The mean age of the participants was 33.1 years old (standard deviation: 9.5). Out of 13 risk factors, history of chronic disease (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.2 – 3.4), prolonged sitting (OR 4.6, 95% CI 2.0 – 11.0), squatting (OR 7.2, 95% CI 3.2 – 16.0), bending of the waist (OR 3.7, 95% CI 1.8 – 7.6), regular lifting or carrying a heavy load (OR 9.2, 95% CI 2.2 – 39.7), prolonged standing (OR 5.8, 95% CI 1.9 – 17.7), occupation related to strenuous physical activity (OR 0.2, 95% CI 0.1 – 0.8), overweight (body mass index &gt;=25 kg/m2) (OR 3.1, 95% CI 1.8 – 5.2) and depression (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.4 – 3.6) were found to be significantly associated with NSLBP. Conclusions: The study generated knowledge on associated risk factors for NSLBP in rural people of Bangladesh that may facilitate an evidence-based intervention for the target group.

Pattern of geriatric health problems and health care seeking behavior among rural people in Bangladesh

Introduction: Bangladesh is currently undergoing a demographic transition and the proportion of the population who are elderly is rapidly increasing. As geriatrics health problems are making a greater demand on the health services of the community, universal health coverage can’t be achieved if we leave older people behind. Objectives: To assess the socio-demographic status, identification of the health-related determinants and health problems, and treatment-seeking behavior among the elderly rural people. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted from November 2018 to January 2019 at Baliyati, Mohishashi, and Dhalkunda villages in Saturia Upazilla of Manikganj District. People aged ≥ 60 years were selected by purposive sampling and data were collected from 427 elderly people. Data were collected by interview using an interviewer-administered semi- structured questionnaire. Blood pressure was measured by a sphygmomanometer. Results: 49.99 % of the respondents were aged between 60 to 65 years and 18.03% were above 75 years.59.71% of respondents was illiterate, and 18.96% have completed their primary level education. 34.66% of respondents were self-employed and 30.67% were involved in householdwork38.4% had no monthly income. Their monthly family income ranged from 5,000 to 10,000 taka. 57.61% of the respondents lived in a joint family. Most of the respondents (79.85%) are married and of them (49.69%) have 3-4 living children. The majority of the respondents (93.91%) drink from tube well water and 81.49% of respondents use sanitary latrine.42.68% of respondents have an addiction to betel leaf. Among the chronic diseases, 57.38% of respondents suffered from joint pain, 57.14% from visual disturbance, 37.94% from general weakness, 16.16 % from insomnia, and 14.52% from hypertension. The majority of the respondents (78.68%) took measures for their health problems. Due to the high cost of treatment, about 41.75% of respondents did not take any measures when they become sick. Most of the respondents (55.65%) who took treatment preferred to go to a government hospital. Conclusion: Higher medical costs, ignorance about available medical facility in nearby medical units are the main challenges of elderly people in Bangladesh. Most diseases are preventable by creating awareness through mass media.

Bangladeş’in kentsel ve kırsal nüfusları arasında COVID-19 üzerine karşılaştırmalı bir çalışma

Objective: This study is aimed to identify the awareness and behavioral perspective on COVID-19 between urban and rural people of Bangladesh during the period of outbreak. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in 30 districts of Bangladesh, where 322 participants from urban and 312 from rural area. Participants were selected through convenience sampling. Results: Rural people are found to be much more inter connected to receive information from neighbor. Regarding the incubation periods and the general symptoms, knowledge differs significantly from urban to rural. Even their precautionary and transmission knowledge is found to associate in most of the cases. During this outbreak, urban people significantly increase their religious habits and also believe that there will some major change of life after outbreak. Conclusion: The descriptive study reflected that health education program needed to aware about COVID-19 in both urban and rural in Bangladesh that helps in formulating and executing communication and outbreak management.

Synergizing Folklore and Urban Values for Sustainable Liveability

The synergy between rural and urban values is depicted as the source for local and global sustainability. This paper asserts that the folklore tradition of the rural people of Bangladesh promotes sustainability through their respect for nature, spiritual education, and the common future of generations. Such values are embedded in the country's economy, schools, media, and other institutions where these messages are taught, articulated, and promoted. The positive spiritual dispositions of rural people in Bangladesh towards natural calamities allow them to interpret such events as nature's tools for managing sustainable liveability. Bangladeshi rural communities also enjoy self-reliant living without destroying the country's base of natural resources in contrast to the city dwellers. Thus, the paper aims to establish that the implements for achieving global sustainability could be embedded in “rural modernization” – a way of blending rural values and folklore in city life.

Needs Assessment and Survival Pattern of Elderly People in Rural Bangladesh

At present, aging is a buzzword that is recognized as a global issue. Bangladesh recently experiences a significant number of people who have faced many types of challenges due to its huge number of elderly people. It is the multidimensional process of physical, mental, and social change, both males &amp; females aged 60+ years. Aging is now a global problem and an upcoming threat for developing countries like Bangladesh. Major social problems of elder people in a rural area are their adjustment in their surroundings, special needs, care giving and care receiving, neglect and harassment. This research aimed to know the needs assessment and survival pattern of elderly people in a rural area. The study has been conducted qualitative and quantitative in nature with a sample size of 120. Necessary data were collected through structured interview schedules, observation, questionnaires, and case study techniques. The survey findings indicate that elderly people are lack access to educational facilities, agricultural resources, decision-making process, sufficient family income, basic health care and they have faced social and physical problems such as lack of social security, personal security, burden feeling, loneliness, special services, heart disease, diabetics, sleeping disturbances, urinary and stomach problem, eye, hearing, dental problem. The government should have a social welfare policy to give special health and medical services through separate wards and units for elderly people.

The prevalence of hypertension and pattern of associated Cardiovascular and Metabolic risk factors in rural people of Bangladesh

The prevalence of hypertension and pattern of associated Cardiovascular and Metabolic risk factors in rural people of Bangladesh

Community's misconception about COVID-19 and its associated factors in Satkhira, Bangladesh: A cross-sectional study.

Misconception related to coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) have been spread out broadly and the the World Health Organization declared these as a major challenge to fight against the pandemic. This study aimed to assess COVID-19 related misconception among rural people in Bangladesh and associated socio-demographic and media related factors. Multistage sampling method was used to collect data (n = 210) from three unions of Satkhira District, Bangladesh. The dependent variable was the presence of COVID-19 related misconception (Yes, No) which was generated based on respondents' responses to a set of six questions on various types of misconception. Exposure variables were respondents' socio-demographic characteristics, mass media and social media exposure. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the characteristics of the respondents. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to determine the factors associated with COVID-19 misconception. More than half of the study respondents had one or more COVID-19 related misconception. Over 50% of the total respondents considered this disease as a punishment from God. Besides, many of the respondents reported that they do not think the virus causing COVID-19 is dangerous (59%) and it is a disease (19%). Around 7% reported they believe the virus is the part of a virus war (7.2%). The bivariate analysis found the presence of socio-demographic factors of the respondents, as well as the factors related to social and mass media, were significantly associated with the COVID-19's misconception. However, once all factors considered together in the multivariate model, misconception were found to be lower among secondary (AOR, 0.33, 95% CI: 0.13-0.84) and tertiary (AOR, 0.29, 95% CI: 0.09-0.92) educated respondents compared to the respondents with primary education. This study obtained a very higher percentage of misconception about the COVID-19 among the respondents of Satkhira district in Bangladesh. This could be a potential challenge to fight against this pandemic which is now ongoing. Prioritizing mass and social media to disseminate evidence-based information as well as educate people about this disease are necessary.

The large-scale community-based programme 'Suchana' improved maternal healthcare practices in north-eastern Bangladesh: Findings from a cluster randomized pre-post study.

Adequate maternal healthcare practices are crucial to both maternal and infant nutrition outcomes. The Sylhet region of Bangladesh is vulnerable and performs poorly, as maternal and child health indicators are falling behind compared to other areas. Suchana, a large‐scale intervention programme aims to improve the health and nutritional status of mothers and children in this region. The objective of the present analysis is to assess the changes in indicators related to maternal healthcare practices among Suchana beneficiaries. We obtained data from the Suchana baseline and endline evaluation survey. Descriptive statistics were employed to summarize data. The following maternal healthcare practices were considered: if a Suchana beneficiary mother received antenatal care (ANC) from skilled service providers, took day time resting during pregnancy, consumed additional diet during pregnancy, took at least 100 iron‐folic acid (IFA) tablets during pregnancy and took a vitamin A capsule after delivery. Logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the impact of the Suchana intervention on maternal healthcare practices. The prevalence of the outcome variables at endline in the intervention area were as follows: 40% of mothers received at least four ANC from skilled service providers, 50% practiced daytime resting during pregnancy, 51% consumed additional diet during pregnancy, 41% took at least 100 iron‐folic acid tablets during pregnancy, 39% received postnatal care and 30% took a vitamin A capsule after delivery. The Suchana intervention significantly, positively improved indicators related to maternal healthcare practices; these findings support future larger‐scale programmes to improve maternal healthcare practices among vulnerable people in rural Bangladesh.

Perceived Impact of COVID-19 on the Dietary Behaviors and Food Security of People in Rural Bangladesh

ObjectivesThis study aims to examine how poor women perceived the impact of COVID-19 in their lives regarding daily routines, food acquisition and consumption, hygiene practices and access to health services in rural Bangladesh.MethodsQuestions about the perceived impact of COVID-19 were included as part of an evaluation survey of a community-based nutrition program, and assessed cross-sectionally in November-December 2020 among a total of 2960 poor or ultra-poor women.Results84–87% of respondents perceived COVID-19 has affected their daily routine in the activities related to diet, work/school, income, social activities and to lesser extent, 78.8% in entertainment activities and 67.9% in health activity. For the current food acquisition and consumption compared to pre-COVID-19 situation, 77.3% reportedless grocery shopping, 74.2% decreased activities of eating with someone else, 39.6% reduced consumption of fresh foods, and 23.4% decreased consumption of stable foods. Also, 92.3% of respondents experienced restriction to market access for food acquisition. In light of this, 74.4% of respondents found food assistance to be helpful coping with a negative impact of COVID-19, the highest among other assistances (below 10%). Only 25.7% of respondents reported wearing facial masks whenever out and 67.9% did not perceive any change of their health and hygiene practices after COVID-19. 58.7% of respondents responded that public health messages were helpful to cope with the current pandemic.ConclusionsWhile COVID-19 has hit every area of routine and lives, food-related activities and assistance were perceived to be affected the hardest compared to other daily activities in rural Bangladesh. People fear about infections through gathering, not wearing masks, and going out, however, disease prevention practices does not follow as much as they fear. This study suggest that the food security intervention deserves urgent attention as well as educational information dissemination on the prevention and protection measures of COVID-19.Funding SourcesWorld Vision Bangladesh, World Vision Korea, KOICA

Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction of Mobile Banking during COVID-19 Lockdown; Evidence from Rural Area of Bangladesh

The aim of this study is to capture the impact of different dimensions of services of mobile banking on customer satisfaction for the mobile banking users for rural areas of Bangladesh during the COVID-19 pandemic times. The study also finds out the affiliation between the customer satisfaction and loyalty of different types of mobile banking users during the pandemic times. The researchers designed a self-complete questionnaire that was used for data collection and received 180 questionnaires out of 250 questionnaires. This research conducted on the rural people in Bangladesh who are availing the service of mobile banking during the pandemic situation and for this reason, the results may not applicable to other times as well as other areas. The finding of the study indicated that reliability, responsiveness and efficiency dimensions of mobile banking service have significant influence on customer satisfaction during the COVID-19 lockdown times.

Exploring the Role of Union Digital Center to Managing Information Services in Rural Development of Bangladesh

The information services are multidimensional and socially acts as the building block of communication among diverse groups in rural society. Rural development mostly relies on the effective use of information services in the day-to-day activities of rural people and rural administrations. In rural areas of Bangladesh, Union Digital Centre comprised of every prospect of delivering the advantages of new communication technologies towards the agricultural community who lagged behind the access to technology in their workplace, household social living, or at the institution. Prior studies revealed that the rural people of Bangladesh mostly suffer because of low productivity; the deterioration of social and economic conditions originated from the unavailability of adequate information. This article attempted to explore an overview of the roles of Union Digital Centre among various socio-politico-economic components in developing rural areas of Bangladesh. A convenience sampling technique was used to collect data through a structured questionnaire and a total of 100 respondents were selected from three old rural regions of Bangladesh. Besides, case study, focus group discussion, informal interviews, and content analyses were made. At the end, this paper discusses some findings on the importance of free access to technology for rural society, challenges, and recommendations that may guide policymakers and stakeholders.

Determinants of Livelihood Diversification of Rural Households in Sylhet

Livelihood diversification is considered as a constructive way to improve the livelihood of poor people in rural Bangladesh. This study examines the level of livelihood diversification and the determinants of livelihood diversification of rural households in Sylhet division by using both primary and secondary data. The primary data were collected from two districts of Sylhet division by adopting simple random sampling procedures. A face to face interview was employed to collect cross section data of total 210 respondents in which semi-structured and pre-tested questionnaire was used. Descriptive statistics, Simpson diversification indexing and Logit model analysis were employed for analyzing the data in accordance with the objectives of the study. The socioeconomic attributes of different respondents indicate that characteristics of sampled respondents differ from each other in respect of their age, gender, literacy rate, family composition, land holdings, credit access etc. However, in rural Bangladesh, a considerable number of households have diversified their livelihoods at different levels through several income generating activities. Though medium and highly diversified households are majority in rural areas; which accounts for 37% and 26% of total households, respectively. Logit model was estimated to analyze the determinants and find that several factors either positively or negatively affect the extent of livelihood diversification. Gender, education level, land holdings and credit access had positive and significant effects on livelihood diversification. On the other hand, dependency ratio and savings had a negative but significant effect on diversification of livelihood in rural areas. Considering the findings, the study suggested some policy implication like encouraging entrepreneurship, expanding credit facilities, development of rural infrastructure along with market facilities; introducing effective pro-poor policies that may assist all poor people to generate more income and higher-return activities. Hence policies that widen the extent of income earning sources and livelihood diversification should be given proper attention.