Villages In Bangladesh Research Articles

Study on Knowledge about Arsenic Contamination in Drinking Water among the People Living in Selected Villages of Bangladesh

Background: Excessive amounts of arsenic (As) in the groundwater in Bangladesh and neighbouring countries are also a major public health problem.Objective: The purpose of the present study was to find out the knowledge of arsenic contamination in drinking water and health hazards due to chronic arsenic toxicity among the people living in selected villages of Bangladesh.Methodology: This cross sectional descriptive type of study was conducted purposively among the people of the selected two villages of Bhanga Upazilla of Faridpur district from January 2007 to June 2007. All the relevant socio-demographic characteristics and data were collected by face to face interview.Results: A total number of 360 people were recruited. It was found that 273(85.3%) of the respondents family member used tube well water for drinking purpose of the respondents, 317(99.1%) persons heard of arsenic contamination in drinking water. About 284 (88.8%) respondents had the correct knowledge about identifying color of arsenic contaminated and arsenic free tube well. It was found that l76(55.5%) people knew the correct answer about the duration of use of arsenic contaminated water to causes chronic arsenic toxicity. It also revealed that 107(33.4%) respondents did not know about sign of chronic arsenic toxicity.Conclusion: Excellent knowledge on arsenic contamination in drinking water and health hazards due to chronic arsenic toxicity is found among the people living in selected villages of Bangladesh.J Shaheed Suhrawardy Med Coll, 2014; 6(2):57-59

Effects of Child Marriage on Girls’ Education and Empowerment

Although Convention on the Rights of Child declared that any marriage of an under 18 child will be considered as “Child Marriage”, the age limit of girls’ marriage was proposed to change from 18 to 16 in the draft Child Marriage Restraint Act Bangladesh 2014. This paper aims to analyse the effects of child marriage on Bangladeshi village girls’ formal education and empowerment which hopefully will lead to bring awareness among the patriarchal societies. Rangpur region was purposively selected to design this study in a case study approach. The concept of empowerment was used with an interpretive methodological approach which allowed to consciously interpreting the data from secondary relevant sources. The findings of this review article revealed the ways in which child marriages hinder the opportunity of girls to be educated and push them back to not being empowered in the patriarchal society. The study’s implication for policy and practice rooted deeply on the collaboration of NGO programmes, government interventions and family support.

Between Fear and Hope at the Bangladesh-Assam Border

This paper is about the inhabitants of a small village in Bangladesh, which lies on the border with the Indian state of Assam. Due to an Indo-Bangladesh agreement, inhabitants are confronted with losing their agricultural lands. In addition, since 2010, the Border Security Force of India (BSF) impedes residents in approaching their gardens, an action that has led to repeated confrontations between the BSF and the villagers. Both threats instigate high levels of fear among the residents. However, their hopes are also high. How can we explain equally high levels of fear and hope among the residents? I suggest that the simultaneous surfacing of fear and hope sheds light on “bipolar” state practices on the ground (i.e., at the same time targeting and protecting lives), as well as the entanglement of the existential and the political (i.e., vulnerability and a demand for recognition) in the everyday lives of the residents.

Resilience, political ecology, and well-being: an interdisciplinary approach to understanding social-ecological change in coastal Bangladesh

The commodification of peasant livelihoods through export-oriented aquaculture has brought about significant social-ecological changes in low-lying coastal areas in many parts of Asia. A better understanding of the underlying drivers and distributional effects of these changes requires integration of social and ecological approaches that often have different epistemological origins. Resilience thinking has gained increased traction in social-ecological systems research because it provides a dynamic analysis of the cross-scalar interactions between multiple conditions and processes. However, the system-oriented perspective inherent in resilience thinking fails to acknowledge the heterogeneous values, interests, and power of social actors and their roles in navigating social-ecological change. Incorporation of political ecology and well-being perspectives can provide an actor-oriented analysis of the trade-offs associated with change and help to determine which state is desirable for whom. However, empirical demonstrations of such interdisciplinary approaches remain scarce. Here, we explore the combined application of resilience, political ecology, and well-being in investigating the root causes of social-ecological change and identifying the winners and losers of system transformation through empirical analysis of the differential changes in farming systems in two villages in coastal Bangladesh. Using the adaptive cycle as a structuring model, we examine the evolution of the shrimp aquaculture system over the past few decades, particularly looking at the power dynamics between households of different wealth classes. We found that although asymmetric land ownership and political ties enabled the wealthier households to reach their desired farming system in one village, social resilience achieved through memory, leadership, and crisis empowered poorer households to exercise their agency in another village. Material dimensions such as improved living standards, food security, and cash incomes were evidently important; however, freedom to pursue desired livelihood activities, better environmental quality, mental peace, and cultural identities had significant implications for relational and subjective well-being.

Does Microcredit Increase Borrowerss Savings? A Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Design Approach

Microcredit has expanded rapidly in recent years but its effect at the household level is still controversial. This paper uses a unique dataset collected from 69 villages in Bangladesh during the period 2006-2007 to estimates the effect of participation in microcredit programs on household savings. A regression discontinuity design (RDD) is used to identify the credit effect. To justify the validity of RDD, we test the discontinuities in the conditional density of the forcing variable (in our case household land), as suggested by McCrary (2008). We do not find any substantial evidence of manipulation of forcing variable at the threshold to invalidate the RDD. Our results show that access to credit increases savings of the borrowers.

Does microcredit increase borrowers’ savings? A fuzzy regression discontinuity design approach

Microcredit has expanded rapidly in recent years but its effect at the household level is still controversial. This paper uses a unique data-set collected from 69 villages in Bangladesh to estimate the effect of participation in microcredit programs on household savings. A regression discontinuity design (RDD) is used to identify the credit effect. To justify the validity of RDD, we test the discontinuities in the conditional density of the forcing variable (in our case, household land), as suggested by McCrary. We do not find any substantial evidence of manipulation of forcing variable at the threshold to invalidate the RDD. Our results show that access to credit increases savings of the borrowers.

Child Marriage and Intimate Partner Violence in Rural Bangladesh: A Longitudinal Multilevel Analysis.

Child marriage (before age 18) is a risk factor for intimate partner violence (IPV) against women. Worldwide, Bangladesh has the highest prevalence of IPV and very early child marriage (before age 15). How the community prevalence of very early child marriage influences a woman's risk of IPV is unknown. Using panel data (2013-2014) from 3,355 women first married 4-12 years prior in 77 Bangladeshi villages, we tested the protective effect of a woman's later first marriage (at age 18 or older), the adverse effect of a higher village prevalence of very early child marriage, and whether any protective effect of a woman's later first marriage was diminished or reversed in villages where very early child marriage was more prevalent. Almost one-half (44.5 %) of women reported incident physical IPV, and 78.9 % had married before age 18. The village-level incidence of physical IPV ranged from 11.4 % to 75.0 %; the mean age at first marriage ranged from 14.8 to 18.0 years. The mean village-level prevalence of very early child marriage ranged from 3.9 % to 51.9 %. In main-effects models, marrying at 18 or later protected against physical IPV, and more prevalent very early child marriage before age 15 was a risk factor. The interaction of individual later marriage and the village prevalence of very early child marriage was positive; thus, the likely protective effect of marrying later was negated in villages where very early child marriage was prevalent. Collectively reducing very early child marriage may be needed to protect women from IPV.

Hypertension Clinic Service is a Good Opportunity for Tobacco Cessation in Bangladeshi Villagers

Background: Tobacco use and hypertension are common and co-existent in Bangladeshi population. This study was done to assess whether a brief counseling by non-medical counselors during checkup visits for hypertension treatment can reduce tobacco use in Bangladeshi adults living in a village.Methods: This study was done in a public health clinic located in a village of Bangladesh. Consecutive 259 hypertensive patients visiting this clinic for hypertension treatment were counseled for lifestyle modification at entry and four follow-up visits at an interval of four weeks. Tobacco users were counseled for five minutes to quit tobacco use at each visit as per a cessation booklet in Bangla. Data on tobacco use, smoking and smokeless, were recorded at all visits.Results: Median age of the respondents was 55 years (in range, 18- 85 years) and three-quarter of them were women. The prevalence of tobacco use in first visit was 40.5% which declined to 1.9% on their fifth visit. Major decline was observed due to smokeless tobacco quitting; its prevalence dropped from 33.2% to 0.4%. However smoking was relatively resistant; it declined from 10.4% to 1.5% only.Conclusion: Tobacco cessation by a simple counseling has been found to be very successful in this village level public health clinic of Bangladesh. This can be replicated in similar settings such as community clinics.Cardiovasc. j. 2016; 9(1): 19-22

Migration, development and welfare: findings from a household survey in two selected villages in Bangladesh

This paper contributes to the debate about the developmental impact of overseas migration using household level data from two selected villages in the southeastern region of Bangladesh. It argues in turn that remittances do contribute to household wealth accumulation but longer term investment in agriculture that can potentially lead to a change in agrarian structure is largely missing. An asset index is also employed to determine the welfare effects of both overseas and domestic migration. This paper begins with a discussion on theories of migration and how these have evolved to encompass new empirical features of the migration phenomenon. The survey results are then presented with an analysis of what this means for the nexus between migration and development within the specific context of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh village health workers: Addressing childhood micronutrient deficiencies

Bangladesh village health workers: Addressing childhood micronutrient deficiencies

Sustaining a Regime of Low Fertility

<p>In several developing countries, notably Bangladesh, fertility rates fell dramatically in the later part of the twentieth century and have sustained at low levels. Traditional socioeconomic models do not fully explain the profile of fertility fall especially for rural areas where well-being has not sufficiently improved. This paper offers a supplementary explanation that mass media facilitated the diffusion of contraceptive knowledge, leading to an ideological shift to value small families, and social networks especially reciprocal encouragement about contraception practice among network members has helped to sustain this shift. To investigate the role of encouragement of immediate network members in their family planning behaviour, data was gathered using an interview-based survey of 694 women of fertile ages in seven rural Bangladeshi villages. Findings give support to the importance of social networks in maintaining achieved low fertility levels. When there is strong reciprocal encouragement of network members about practicing contraception then using contraception is more likely. This may offer an explanation to sustaining a low fertility regime.</p>

Who Trusts Others? Community and Individual Determinants of Social Capital in a Low-Income Country

This study presents new evidence on individual and community-specific determinants of social trust using data from 96 villages in Bangladesh. We find perceived institutional trust to be positively correlated with stated inter-personal trust. At the same time, there is significant social distance among various faith groups in our data: both Hindus and Muslims trust their coreligionists more than they trust those from other religions. Moreover, Hindus trust Christians, Buddhists and NGO workers more than Muslims, and are not distrustful of the wider society.Trust towards non-Muslims is negatively correlated with Islamic school attendance among Muslim respondents, while religiosity tends not to play any role. Compared to religion, the effects of institutional trust and local economic development are modest. These findings are robust to control for a range of individual- and community-level correlates, and enumerator fixed effects.

Water Scarcity: A Fact or Fiction for a Coastal Village of Bangladesh!!

This paper sets out an examination of natural disaster amongst coastal villagers in a developing country, and presents the nature of social vulnerability in collecting drinking and fresh water in their everyday life. Global climate change and geographical location of coastal Bangladesh effects on societal people by creating constraints in having fresh water. To know the nature and sufferings in collecting and getting fresh water, this research used 30 in-depth interviews from the villagers and the intellectuals. Three more Focus Group Discussions were triangulated to increase the reliability of the collected data. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n4p695

Scarcity to solution: perceived reasons for safe drinking water scarcity and local coping responses in a coastal village of Bangladesh

People are directly and indirectly exposed to changing weather patterns through changes in the quality of water, air, and food changes in ecosystems, agriculture, industry, human settlements and the economy. Hence, this study explored local perceived reasons for safe drinking water scarcity and under such circumstances the coping responses in their region. This is a descriptive study based on qualitative methods. Male and female informants (30 + years of age) were purposively identified and data for the study were collected in three ways, through observation and informal discussion, in-depth interviews (n = 18), and three focus group discussions in a coastal village of Bangladesh. Climate change consequences include damaged trees and increased salinity intrusion, leading to a scarcity of safe drinking water. To cope with such scarcity of water, small scale road side mangrove tree planting was found to protect fresh water from salt water. In addition, cost effective rainwater preservation in the community during the rainy season was taken as mitigation of the scarcity of safe drinking water. Considering the geographical and socio-economic context of any specific region, cost effective and environment friendly local adaptive measures can reduce or mitigate the impact of climate change on water resources.

Determinants of Rural Non-Farm Employment-Empirical Evidence from Three Villages in Northern Bangladesh

Determinants of Rural Non-Farm Employment-Empirical Evidence from Three Villages in Northern Bangladesh

Hygiene Practices During Food Preparation in Rural Bangladesh: Opportunities to Improve the Impact of Handwashing Interventions.

This study explored the steps of food preparation, related handwashing opportunities, current practices, and community perceptions regarding foods at high-risk of contamination such as mashed foods and salads. In three rural Bangladeshi villages, we collected qualitative and observational data. Food preparation was a complex and multistep process. Food preparation was interrupted by tasks that could contaminate the preparers' hands, after which they continued food preparation without washing hands. Community members typically ate hand-mixed, uncooked mashed food and salad as accompaniments to curry and rice at meals. Hand-mixed dried foods were mostly consumed as a snack. Observers recorded handwashing during preparation of these foods. Among 24 observed caregivers, of 85 opportunities to wash hands with soap during food preparation, washing hands with soap occurred twice, both times after cutting fish, whereas washing hands with water alone was common. A simple and feasible approach is promotion of handwashing with soap upon entering and re-entering the food preparation area, and ensuring that everything needed for handwashing should be within easy reach.

The development of an intervention package to prevent children under five years old drowning in rural Bangladesh.

There are an estimated 372 000 worldwide deaths by drowning every year, and it has been described as a secret epidemic in Bangladesh. The aim of this study was to develop an intervention package to prevent children under the age of five from drowning in rural Bangladesh. This was a qualitative study using focus group discussions in three villages in rural Bangladesh. The 45 participants were mothers and fathers with children under five, the parents of children who had drowned and community leaders. The majority of the participants (71%) were male. The focus groups revealed that most drowning's occurred between 11am and 2pm and that risk factors included the following: children not being able to swim, ditches that were not filled in, lack of medical facilities, parents who were not aware of childhood drowning and lack of information through the media about how to prevent of childhood drowning. Suggestions included using a mobile-based short messaging service or voice calls to parents, especially mothers, could increase awareness and reduce the risk of childhood drowning. A safety education programme could be effective in increasing knowledge and changing attitudes, which could prevent drowning among children in Bangladesh.

Microfinance and the business of poverty reduction: Critical perspectives from rural Bangladesh

In this article we provide a critical analysis of the role of market-based approaches to poverty reduction in developing countries. In particular, we analyse the role of microfinance in poverty alleviation by conducting an ethnographic study of three villages in Bangladesh. Microfinance has become an increasingly popular approach that aims to alleviate poverty by providing the poor new opportunities for entrepreneurship. It also aims to promote empowerment (especially among women) while enhancing social capital in poor communities. Our findings, however, reflect a different picture. We found microfinance led to increasing levels of indebtedness among already impoverished communities and exacerbated economic, social and environmental vulnerabilities. Our findings contribute to the emerging literature on the role of social capital in developing entrepreneurial capabilities in poor communities by highlighting processes whereby social capital can be undermined by market-based measures like microfinance.

Performances of commercial hybrid broiler in villages of Bangladesh

A total of 20 broiler farms were enumerated to evaluate the production performance of broiler birds and farm management status at rural villages of Mymensingh Sadar (district headquarters) Upazila under Mymensingh district in Bangladesh. Data were collected on day-old chick weight (DOCW), live broiler weight at market age (MW), feed conversion ratio (FCR), average daily body weight gain (ADG), mortality up to age of marketing (MTRT) during June and July, 2014 using a pre-tested questionnaire by door-to-door visit. Seventeen out of 20 farms had broiler houses with gable type roof of corrugated iron sheet (CIS), all farmers were using rice husk as litter materials and electric brooder for brooding birds for 7 days. To minimize heat stress, 65% farmers used electric fan and drinking water, and to minimize cold stress quantities of litter materials were increased and vitamin C was supplied with lukewarm drinking water. Newcastle Disease (ND) and Infectious Bursal Disease (IBD) vaccines were used by all farmers. Mean ADG, MW, DOCW and MTRT were 45.3 ± 1.2g/bird, 1581.6 ± 46.1g/bird, 54.7 ± 3.0g/bird and 5.2 ± 1.0%, respectively. Feed from two different companies had no significant effect on FCR and MTRT but feed company affected the ADG significantly. DOCW, farm size and farmer’s education did not affect ADG, FCR and MTRT significantly.Bangl. vet. 2014. Vol. 31, No. 2, 84-90

Provision of well-water treatment units to 600 households in Bangladesh: A longitudinal analysis of urinary arsenic indicates fading utility

BackgroundMillions of villagers in Bangladesh remain exposed to high levels of arsenic (As) from drinking untreated well-water even though the scale of the problem was recognized 15years ago. Water treatment at the household-level has been promoted as a viable complement but few longitudinal studies of their efficacy using an objective measure of exposure have been conducted. Participants (N=622) of a nutrition trial in Araihazar, Bangladesh were each provided with READ-F filters at the beginning of the study and encouraged to use them over the 6month duration of the intervention. Well-water As, treated water As, and urinary As were monitored periodically during the trial and measured again one year after the trial ended. ResultsThe READ-F filters were initially well received and median urinary As levels for participants declined from 117μg/L to 51μg/L within a single week. However, median urinary As levels gradually rose back to 126μg/L by the end of the trial. Fifty filters were replaced over the course of the trial because of insufficient As removal or reduced flow. With these exceptions, most of the treated water met the WHO guideline for As in drinking water of 10μg/L. One year after the nutritional trial ended, 95% of participants had abandoned their filter citing inconvenience as the primary reason. At that time, median urinary As levels for 10 participants who had switched to a nearby low-As well had declined to 63μg/L. ConclusionsParticipants were probably no longer using the READ-F filter long before the 6month nutritional intervention ended despite claiming that they were using them. Household-level treatment is likely to continue to play a minor role in the effort to reduce As exposure in Bangladesh. Understanding the limitations of such expensive interventions is important for future policy regarding As mitigation.