People In Rural Bangladesh Research Articles

Effects of child gender preference on contraceptive use in rural Bangladesh

While people in rural Bangladesh have adopted the use of modern contraceptives over the past two decades, they traditionally have a parental preference for sons over daughters. This paper examines how the child gender preference influences a woman’s use of modern contraceptives in Matlab, rural Bangladesh. This study is based on data from 300 women in the treatment area, where modern contraceptive prevalence is exceptionally high, and 144 women in the comparison area, where modern contraceptive prevalence is relatively low. These women were interviewed between 1995 and 1996. The treatment area results show that the desire for sons exerts a significant influence on contraceptive use, whereas the desire for daughters contrast, the comparison area results suggest that it is the number of currently surviving sons and daughters that exerts a significant influence on contraceptive use.

CHANGING RURAL LAND OWNERSHIP, LAND USE PATTERN AND IT’S SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS: STUDY ON TWO VILLAGES OF BATIAGHATA THANA, KHULNA

Land is the main repository of wealth, means of production and important determinant of social status of rural households in any developing country. About 86% of the dwelling units in Bangladesh is located in rural areas where land use and land ownership is changing rapidly. Population pressure and persistent poverty of people in rural Bangladesh are making land ownership pattern skewed and facing the conversion of agricultural land to homesteads and other uses. This paper through an in depth empirical study of two villages of Batiaghata Thana, investigated their changing land ownership and land use pattern for 1962 to 1998. It is found that in the study area agricultural land has reduced gradually and this is increasingly being used for non-agricultural purposes. Agricultural land in the study area reduced from 86% (of the total) in 1962 to 65% of total land in 1998. The main non-agricultural uses that have increased are settlements, roads, psici/shrimp culture, commercial uses etc. In 1962 land-less people constitutes about 24.49% of the households, whereas in 1998 they are 36% of the households. Changing land ownership and land –use pattern directly or indirectly affects the rural economy, societal interaction, morality and values. The main implications are fragmented land holdings, change in occupation, unemployment, merginalisation and social conflicts. The present study suggests that an effective land use planning and zoning regulations for rural Bangladesh could alleviate some of these problems.

Seroprevalence of leptospirosis in a rural flood prone district of Bangladesh

Leptospirosis is a worldwide zoonotic disease. In the present investigation, a total of 89 human sera from a flood prone district of Bangladesh was screened by a one-point microscapsule agglutination test (MCAT). MCAT-positive and -doubtful sera were further tested by microscopic agglutination test (MAT) against 16 reference serovars of Leptospira interrogans, and the antibody titres determined. In MCAT, 34 sera were positive and 22 were doubtful. Among those positive and doubtful sera, 33 and 20, respectively were tested by MAT. Thirty-four out of 53 MCAT-screened samples were MAT-positive. The titres ranged from 20 to 1600 with antibodies to serovars copenhageni, australis, cynopteri and icterohaemorrhagiae being the most prevalent. Eleven MCAT-positive samples failed to react with any strains used by MAT, suggesting the presence of new or untested serovars. Among the MAT-positive samples, the presence of antibody against two or more serovars was more common than that of a single serovar. The present study suggests that rural people in Bangladesh are at high risk to leptospiral infection.

How and What Rural Women Know: Experiences in Bangladesh

A study was conducted in Bangladesh to determine the contribution rural women make to the economic conditions in their country. The study was necessary because little research has been done into the working patterns of rural women and their economic contributions have often been overlooked because they do not produce actual income. This article is a discussion of the problems faced by field researchers in countries like Bangladesh. Certain types of questions cannot be asked of women in rural Muslim areas, e.g., questions dealing with acreage of property, supply and demand in the marketplace, and irrigated land. Secluded women would have no way of knowing answers to these questions. Observation had to be used for a study of time-use, since the women do not live by the clock. Questions on women's ages can never be asked. Questions to females had to concern themselves with activities of females and questions to males, with activities of males. Rural people in Bangladesh do not seem to think in terms of exact measurement; this must be taken into account when analyzing answers. Researchers have to adapt their interviewing to the socioeconomic conditions of the area.