Villages In Bangladesh Research Articles

Women's empowerment revisited: a case study from Bangladesh

This article explores the changing dimensions of women's empowerment over time in three Bangladesh villages where one of the authors has been conducting research since 1991. The article discusses theoretical issues related to the measurement of women's empowerment, and describes findings from a recent study in the villages exploring the current salience of indicators developed for a 1992 survey. In the article we discuss the types of social, economic, and political change that affect the measurement of women's empowerment; propose and explain a new set of indicators for the rural Bangladesh setting; and discuss implications for measuring women's empowerment in other settings.

In situ adaptation against sea level rise (SLR) in Bangladesh: does awareness matter?

PurposeThe paper aims to identify and assess quantitatively the influences of a few dimensions of climate awareness on people's preference for adaptation against sea level rise (SLR).Design/methodology/approachFrom the literature survey “familiarity with”, “perception about” and “intuitive knowledge about” climate change‐sea level rise (CC‐SLR) have been identified as dimensions of “climate awareness”. Empirical research was done through administering questionnaires among 285 respondents selected randomly from three coastal villages in Bangladesh. After principal component analysis, data sufficiency and colinearity test, a total of 18 variables were entered into a multinomial logistic regression model. The reference category “evacuation” was compared with other two choices, i.e. in situ adaptation with “same occupation” and “changed occupation”.FindingsFor the SLR scenario of 2050‐2075 occupational engagement, use of radio for climate information, exposure to rainfall, salinity and perception about CC‐SLR appeared as the most significant predictors of people's preference for evacuation or in situ adaptation (LR χ2=183.38, pseudo R2=0.54, p<.001). Similarly, for the SLR scenario of 2080‐2100, in addition to the factors cited above, some other factors such as educational attainment, exposure to flood, climate perception and familiarity appeared as the most significant predictor of respondent's preference (LR χ2=202.08, pseudo R2=0.60, p<0.001).Originality/valueTwo dimensions of climate awareness, i.e. familiarity with and perception about CC‐SLR may significantly influence the people's preference for adaptation choice. Launching a programme to enhance climate awareness without further delay may help people planning for anticipatory in situ adaptation against CC‐SLR.

Adaptation in situ or retreat? A multivariate approach to explore the factors that guide the peoples' preference against the impacts of sea level rise in coastal Bangladesh

This paper is aimed to identify the factors that influence peoples' preference for adaptation against the impacts of sea level rise (SLR). A total of 285 respondents from three coastal villages in Bangladesh are randomly interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. First, employing the principal component analysis various factors that influence adaptation preferences of people are identified. These factors are related to “demographic and social aspects”, “wealth and economic standing”, “past coping and adaptive behaviour”, “climate knowledge and information” and “spatial aspect” of life. What is common in these factors is their ability to influence peoples' vulnerability. Finally, the binomial logistic regression model is employed to compute the explanatory power of these factors to predict the respondents' preference for adaptation in situ over retreat or vice versa. Model findings are robust for two scenarios of SLR, i.e. 2050–2075 (LR χ 2 = 133.65, pseudo-R 2 = 0.53, p < 0.001) and 2080–2100 (LR χ 2 = 282.61, pseudo-R 2 = 0.85, p < 0.001). Therefore, it is concluded that to avoid relocation of substantial number of people initiative for encouraging adaptation in situ must be taken along side establishment of safe shelter, community radio service and campaign for raising climate awareness.

Do non-farm incomes really matter for poverty among small households in rural Bangladesh? A case of advanced villages

Given the critical importance of the non-farm sector in rural Bangladesh, this paper examines the comprehensive effects of non-farm incomes on poverty reduction, namely, household production and consumption. The study was based on the original field survey with data from about 175 small households in advanced villages of Bangladesh. Standard micro-econometric techniques were used for the empirical analyses. The study found that the small households in advanced villages were in a stage that their non-farm incomes did not contribute significantly to their household production for either farm or non-farm and food consumption (calorie adequacy); and accordingly, these could be spent on non-food consumption. Finally, the study found that the overall non-farm income significantly mattered for reducing income poverty but could be still low to be realized in reducing education poverty. However, among the non-farm income components, while out-country remittance and non-farm selfemployment incomes were more income poverty (incidence and gap) reducing compared to non-farm wage and in-country remittance incomes, the remittance incomes (both in-country and out-country) were reducing the severity of education poverty. Thus, the qualitative diversification of the small household workers and productive use (preferably in farm/non-farm production and demand driven education) of non-farm incomes deserved special attention.

Assessment of low ABSPI among arsenic exposed and non-exposed populations: A pilot study

This cross-sectional study was carried out to assess and compare Ankle Brachial Systolic Pressure Index (ABSPI) amongst 120 arsenic exposed and 120 non-exposed populations of Samta village in Bangladesh. Abnormal ABSPI was more prevalent in arsenic exposed (13.3%) than in non-exposed (2.5%) group. The prevalence of abnormal ABSPI for respondents when adjusted for age, sex, BMI, blood pressure status and diabetic status, the prevalence remain significantly different. The findings suggest that those exposed to arsenic have increased chance of having abnormal ABSP and hence increased chance of peripheral arterial disease in Bangladesh.

Migration to the bars of Bombay: Women, village religion and sustainability

This article deals with the migration of Bangladeshi village women to the bars of Bombay. For about twelve years (1992 to 2003), ladies' bars provided a lucrative source of income for young women from villages of Jessore and Satkhira. With the money they earned, families were enriched and village economies were invigorated. From being burdens to their families because of the dowry required for their marriage, daughters became assets; wives provided for their husbands, daughters-in-law sustained parents-in-law and sisters established their siblings. No one could deny the widespread benefits of women's migration to Bombay. But how could their activity be reconciled with village norms requiring women to restrain their movements, show modesty and remain under the authority of guardians? How could women's migration be accommodated with village religion and principles of life held to be fundamental to an Islamic way of life and to the good order of society? How could women's earnings be enjoyed without reprobation or disturbances?

Flood proneness and coping strategies: the experiences of two villages in Bangladesh

This paper explores peoples' indigenous survival strategies and assesses variations in people's ability to cope with floods in two flood-prone villages in Bangladesh. It reveals that people continuously battle against flood vulnerability in accordance with their level of exposure and abilities, with varied strategies employed at different geophysical locations. The paper reports that people in an area with low flooding and with better socioeconomic circumstances are more likely to cope with impacts compared to people in areas with high and sudden flooding. Similarly, households' ability to cope varies depending on people's socioeconomic conditions, such as education, income and occupation. Although floods in Bangladesh generate socioeconomic misery and cause damage to the environment, health and infrastructure, people's indigenous coping strategies have helped them to reduce significantly their vulnerability. Such flood-mitigating strategies should be well recognised and emphasised further via proper dissemination of information through an early-warning system and subsequently external assistance.

Bright Lines, Risk Beliefs, and Risk Avoidance: Evidence from a Randomized Intervention in Bangladesh

We randomized 43 villages in Bangladesh to receive information on well-water arsenic that emphasized water safety relative to the national standard (bright-line message) or provided additional information on how risks from exposure increase with arsenic levels (gradient message). The gradient message led to 50% more switching of water sources when the arsenic level was moderately unsafe, but 40% less switching at high arsenic levels. The differences in behavior are at least partially explained by differences in risk perception that developed after the information campaign.

Social networks and adaptation in rural Bangladesh

In the coming years, poor village populations in Bangladesh are expected to feel tangible climate change impacts in multiple and catastrophic forms impacting on their livelihoods and survival. Human adaptation to these impacts will thus be imperative. Research in one rural, flood-prone village in Bangladesh provides valuable information about the role of formal and informal social networks in coping with climate impacts, and key individuals who assist in real-time adaptation. Key individuals within this village network contribute to rural adaptability in that they: provide necessary leadership and management during flood times; enhance the social capacity to organize and coordinate; provide the framework for villagers to communicate, mobilize and voice concerns; create a link to local organizations and resulting resilience building; and attend to the needs of villagers.

Local Response to Global Climate Change: A Case of Drinking Water in a Bangladesh Village

Local Response to Global Climate Change: A Case of Drinking Water in a Bangladesh Village

Sufi Pluralism in Bangladesh: The Case of the Maizbhandariyya Tariqa

28 *Sarwar Alam received his doctorate in Public Policy at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, in 2006. Before moving to the United States, he served in the Civil Service of Bangladesh. He has been a postdoctoral fellow in the department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia since 2007. Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. XXXIV, No. 1, Fall 2010 Sufi Pluralism in Bangladesh: The Case of the Maizbhandariyya Tariqa Sarwar Alam* (I) The following statement was made by one of the devotees of Maizbhandariyya Tariqa of Bangladesh: “I have been familiar with Maizbhandar Sharif for about 23 years, but I have been attached to it for about the past 12 years. I first heard the name of Shahanshah Ziaul Haque Maizbhandari in 1985/86. During the year 1987, I attended his birthday celebration (Khoshroz Sharif) with the intention of just socializing and eating, but I ended up catching a glimpse of him. I visited the place again with one of my friends in 1991. I went there around ten or eleven o’clock at night. I ate tabarruk (blessed food) and went to the fifth floor of the guesthouse, where I slept on a bamboo mat with a brick under my head. I woke up the next morning and walked around on the main street of the Dargah Sharif, where I enjoyed the morning breeze and felt something in my heart….I felt from my soul an attachment to the Maizbhandar Sharif; and I cried….Everything of mine becomes tranquil when I go there. Everything in me…I mean, how to say, I just simply do not feel the urge to ever return home.” During an in-depth interview, he expressed the process of his interiorization of experience as a devotee as well as of his faith in the Maizbhandariyya Tariqa. This article discusses the influence of Sufism, especially the Maizbhandari Sufis in Bangladesh, in developing a harmonious and pluralistic society. 29 1. Anisuzzaman, Muslim-manash o Bangla Shahitya [Muslim-intellect and Bengali Literature], third edition (Dhaka, Bangladesh: Muktadhara, 1983), 25; Muhammad Enamul Haq, A History of Sufi-ism in Bengal (Dhaka, Bangladesh: Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, 1975), 260; Abdul Karim, Social History of the Muslims in Bengal (Down to A. D. 1538), second edition (Chittagong, Bangladesh: Baitush Sharaf Islamic Research Institute, 1985), 185. 2. Sarwar Alam, ForDomestic Use Only: Muslim Women’s Perception of Power and Powerlessness in a Bangladesh Village (Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Arkansas, 2006), 81. 3 Peter J. Bertocci (2002), “Form and Variation in Maizbhandari Sufism.” Available at http://www.sunnirazvi.org/Data/Jan%202005/Bertocci.doc retrieved on May 31, 2007 4 Karim 1985, 185 5 Vincent J. Cornell, “Faqih Versus Faqir in Marinid Morocco: Epistemological Dimensions of a Polemic,” in Frederick De Jong & Bernd Radtke (eds.) Islamic Mysticism Contested: Thirteen Centuries of Controversies and Polemics (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1999, pp. 207-224), 207. The population of Bangladesh is 135 million, out of which 88 percent is Muslim, making Bangladesh the third largest Muslim country in the world. Most scholars believe that the majority of the population embraced Islam through the influence of the Sufis (mystics, holy men);1 but also through the influence of non-Sufi preachers. Both the urban and rural societies in Bangladesh contain four overlapping Islamic traditions: (i) an accommodationist and tolerant tradition of coexistence of different faiths that influence one another on a religio-cultural basis under the influence of Sufis and Pirs (spiritual preceptor); (ii) a scripturally literalist and socially active Islamic tradition derived from the influence of revivalist reform movements in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; (iii) a modern Islamist tradition mostly derived from radical and militant Islamist political parties and organizations ; and (iv) a secularized and modernist tradition of Islam derived from the European education introduced by the British colonial rulers.2 Alongside the non-Sufi Sunni Islamic tradition, Sufi ideologies of different traditions have a great influence upon the daily lives of most Bangladeshi Muslims. Like in the early days of Islam on the Bengal frontier, Sufis still maintain important connections between Islam and the masses. In fact, a large majority of Bangladeshi Muslims perceives Sufis...

Salt is Bitter: Salinity and Livelihood in a Bangladesh Village

Salt is Bitter: Salinity and Livelihood in a Bangladesh Village

Rural household energy consumption pattern in the disregarded villages of Bangladesh

Energy is one of the most important ingredients required to alleviate poverty and realize socio-economic and human development, which is directly interconnected to the prominence of life in rural areas. An extensive survey on household energy consumption pattern interrelating socio-economic and demographic factors was carried out in the disregarded villages of Bangladesh using stratified random sampling technique of 120 households. This paper focuses on household energy consumption, various combinations of fuels and their expenditure in the study area. Biomass, kerosene, electricity, LPG and candle were found as the energy carrier used in the rural households in this study. The study shows that 92% households use biomass, 28% LPG, 89% kerosene, 78% electricity and 27% candle as fuel types. It was found that 56% households collected biomass from their own homesteads and/or agricultural lands. Bamboo, branches, cow dung, firewood, rice husk, leaves & twigs and straw were found as the biomass for household energy use. Average monthly household expenditure for total energy was US$ 9.67 (SE, 0.31) per month while the total monthly income of the household was US$ 123 (SE, 2.53). The ratio of the total monthly energy expenditure to the total monthly income was 7.86%. The study will be helpful to understand the energy consumption system and its expenditure in the rural areas of Bangladesh and to the policy formulation for energy production, consumption and utilization.

Household Characteristics Associated with Handwashing with Soap in Rural Bangladesh

Handwashing with soap prevents diarrhea and respiratory disease, but it is rarely practiced in high-need settings. Among 100 randomly selected villages in rural Bangladesh, field workers enrolled 10 households per village and observed and recorded household activities for 5 hours. Field workers observed 761 handwashing opportunities among household members in 527 households who had just defecated or who cleaned a child's anus who had defecated. In the final multivariate analysis, having water available at the place to wash hands after toileting (odds ratio = 2.2, 95% confidence interval 1.3, 4.0) and having soap available at the place to wash hands after toileting (odds ratio = 2.1, 95% confidence interval 1.3, 3.4) were associated with washing both hands with soap after fecal contact. Interventions that improve the presence of water and soap at the designated place to wash hands would be expected to improve handwashing behavior and health.

Adverse health effects due to arsenic exposure: Modification by dietary supplementation of jaggery in mice

Populations of villages of eastern India and Bangladesh and many other parts of the world are exposed to arsenic mainly through drinking water. Due to non-availability of safe drinking water they are compelled to depend on arsenic-contaminated water. Generally, poverty level is high in those areas and situation is compounded by the lack of proper nutrition. The hypothesis that the deleterious health effects of arsenic can be prevented by modification of dietary factors with the availability of an affordable and indigenous functional food jaggery (sugarcane juice) has been tested in the present study. Jaggery contains polyphenols, vitamin C, carotene and other biologically active components. Arsenic as sodium-m-arsenite at low (0.05 ppm) and high (5 ppm) doses was orally administered to Swiss male albino mice, alone and in combination with jaggery feeding (250 mg/mice), consecutively for 180 days. The serum levels of total antioxidant, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase were substantially reduced in arsenic-exposed groups, while supplementation of jaggery enhanced their levels in combined treatment groups. The serum levels of interleukin-1beta, interleukin-6 and TNF-alpha were significantly increased in arsenic-exposed groups, while in the arsenic-exposed and jaggery supplemented groups their levels were normal. The comet assay in bone marrow cells showed the genotoxic effects of arsenic, whereas combination with jaggery feeding lessened the DNA damage. Histopathologically, the lung of arsenic-exposed mice showed the necrosis and degenerative changes in bronchiolar epithelium with emphysema and thickening of alveolar septa which was effectively antagonized by jaggery feeding. These results demonstrate that jaggery, a natural functional food, effectively antagonizes many of the adverse effects of arsenic.

Undernourished Children Have Different Temperaments Than Better-Nourished Children in Rural Bangladesh ,

Undernutrition in early childhood is associated with poor cognitive development and some changes in behavior. However, there is little information on their temperament. Our objective in this study was to determine whether undernourished children aged 6–24 mo had different temperament traits than better-nourished children. Two hundred and twelve undernourished children (weight for age < −2 Z-scores) attending community nutrition centers in 20 villages in rural Bangladesh and 108 better-nourished children (weight-for-age ≥ −2 Z-scores) matched for age, sex, and village participated in the study. Temperament was assessed through an interviewer-administered maternal questionnaire consisting of 7 subscales: manageability, activity, emotionality, sociability, attention, soothability, and fear. After adjusting for significant covariates, the undernourished children were less sociable [regression coefficient (B) = −0.96; 95% CI = −0.04, −1.88], less attentive (B = −0.94; 95% CI = −0.19, −1.69), more fearful (B = 1.43; 95% CI = 2.44, 0.42), and had more negative emotionality (B = −1.08; 95% CI = 0.006, −2.16). In conclusion, these undernourished children had comprehensive differences in temperament traits, which may increase their risk of developing behavioral and mental health problems in later childhood.

Serogroup, Virulence, and Genetic Traits of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in the Estuarine Ecosystem of Bangladesh

Forty-two strains of Vibrio parahaemolyticus were isolated from Bay of Bengal estuaries and, with two clinical strains, analyzed for virulence, phenotypic, and molecular traits. Serological analysis indicated O8, O3, O1, and K21 to be the major O and K serogroups, respectively, and O8:K21, O1:KUT, and O3:KUT to be predominant. The K antigen(s) was untypeable, and pandemic serogroup O3:K6 was not detected. The presence of genes toxR and tlh were confirmed by PCR in all but two strains, which also lacked toxR. A total of 18 (41%) strains possessed the virulence gene encoding thermostable direct hemolysin (TDH), and one had the TDH-related hemolysin (trh) gene, but not tdh. Ten (23%) strains exhibited Kanagawa phenomenon that surrogates virulence, of which six, including the two clinical strains, possessed tdh. Of the 18 tdh-positive strains, 17 (94%), including the two clinical strains, had the seromarker O8:K21, one was O9:KUT, and the single trh-positive strain was O1:KUT. None had the group-specific or ORF8 pandemic marker gene. DNA fingerprinting employing pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of SfiI-digested DNA and cluster analysis showed divergence among the strains. Dendrograms constructed using PFGE (SfiI) images from a soft database, including those of pandemic and nonpandemic strains of diverse geographic origin, however, showed that local strains formed a cluster, i.e., "clonal cluster," as did pandemic strains of diverse origin. The demonstrated prevalence of tdh-positive and diarrheagenic serogroup O8:K21 strains in coastal villages of Bangladesh indicates a significant human health risk for inhabitants.

Spatial malaria epidemiology in Bangladeshi highlands

BackgroundMalaria is a major public health burden in the south-eastern part of Bangladesh, particularly in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region. In 2007, BRAC and ICDDR,B carried out a malaria prevalence survey in the endemic regions including the Khagrachari District.MethodsThis study was done to detect clusters of malaria and identify the geographic risk factors. Thirty mauzas (the lowest administrative unit/bigger than village in Bangladesh that has polygon boundary) from the area were selected for the survey using probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling. Twenty-five households within each mauza were then randomly selected for screening, with a GPS point being recorded at each household. Rapid diagnostic tests were used to diagnose malaria.ResultsThe average malaria prevalence in the District was 15.47% (n = 750). SaTScan detected five geographic clusters of malaria, one of which was highly significant (p = 0.001). Malaria cases were significantly associated with proximity to water bodies and forests.ConclusionThe data presented in this paper are the first step to understanding malaria in southeastern Bangladesh from a micro-geographic perspective. The study results suggest that there are 'malaria hot-spots' in the study area. The government of Bangladesh and non-governmental organizations involved in malaria control should consider these results when planning malaria control measures. In particular, malaria maps should be updated on a regular basis as new data become available.

Determinants of Non-farm Income Diversification in Developed Villages of Bangladesh

Problem statement: Though the Non-Farm Sector (NFS) has been prioritized in the national policy documents, empirical evidences based on the broader definition of the sector seem to be insufficient about its role both in income diversification and income distribution especially in segmented area of rural Bangladesh. Approach: We use income inequality Gini decomposition method for exploring the role of Non-Farm Incomes (NFIs) and censored Tobit regression for estimating determinants of NFI diversification. We use original data collected from a field survey on individual participation in farm and Non-Farm Activities (NFAs), labor time and household incomes of 214 randomly selected households in four villages of a typical developed rural area, namely, Comilla Sadar Upazila (Sub-district), for the year 2005-06. Results: The NFAs are undoubtedly no longer "marginal" in the case study villages. In addition to supporting the fact that despite having the greater role of the NFS in income diversification and increasing household income, the NFI components do very little or nothing to reduce income inequality, our Gini-decomposition results suggest that further unevenly access to local high return non-farm self-employments and out-country remittance employments would actually aggravate the income distribution. In addition to local NFS, our econometric results give us several important insights for non-local remittance (out-country) and other incomes (transfers): Lower extent of local high-return Household Non-Farm Enterprises (HNFEs) is a reality and landholding is crucially important for financing such HNFEs. For high-return non-farm wage employments and out-country remittance incomes, where the low-income households have limited access, education is particularly important. Participation of female in direct economic activities is negligible. Social capital and local institutions are not significantly active in promoting either local or non-local NFS. Conclusion/recommendations: The future NFS development strategy, thus, should be aimed at promoting high-return HNFEs and creating out-country remittance employment opportunities for the low income households, making local institutions more effective, and increasing female participation in direct economic activities.

Innovations in community physiotherapy

In the last 35 years, Bangladesh has produced only 415 physiotherapists to meet the demands of a total population of 150 million. Most of them practice in the capital city of Dhaka because of better business prospects. The need to formulate an innovative strategy to meet the huge demand is obvious. According to a World Bank report (2005), 44% (poor) and 33% (very poor) people approach local pharmacists or medicine sellers for their ailments due to poor accessibility to healthcare facilities and also to avoid consultation fees. Due to scarcity in the number of professionals, community physiotherapists have become popular with rural patients. They use innovative treatment approaches, which combines traditional Physiotherapy and ancient Ayurvedic massage. Targeting equitable access to all, Gonoshasthaya Kendra (GK) has its own health insurance policy. The fee is determined by the socio-economic status of the patient. Experienced paramedics are now able to administer treatment without direct supervision all the time. The number of patients seen by them is multiplying at a fascinating rate every year due to the growing recognition of their work. Gonoshasthaya Kendra (GK) was established in 1972 and provides primary health care to a rural population of over 1.08 million across 629 villages in Bangladesh. The strategies and methods adopted by Gonoshasthaya Kendra in bridging the gap and promoting community physiotherapy by training health workers or “paramedics” in Bangladesh, has been successful. Even though training of many more paramedics is required, success is guaranteed.