Use of Family Care Indicators and Their Relationship with Child Development in Bangladesh

Poor stimulation in the home is one of the main factors affecting the development of children living in poverty. The family care indicators (FCIs) were developed to measure home stimulation in large populations and were derived from the Home Observations for Measurement of the Environment (HOME). The FCIs were piloted with 801 rural Bangladeshi mothers of children aged 18 months. Five subscales were created: ‘play activities’ (PA), ‘varieties of play materials’ (VP), ‘sources of play materials’, ‘household books’, and ‘magazines and newspapers’ (MN). All subscales had acceptable short-term reliability. Mental and motor development of the children was assessed on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development and their language expression and comprehension by mothers’ report. After controlling for socioeconomic variables, VP and PA independently predicted four and three of the developmental outcomes respectively, and MN predicted both the Bayley scores. The FCI is promising as a survey-based indicator of the quality of children's home environment

Effects of prenatal food and micronutrient supplementation on infant development: a randomized trial from the Maternal and Infant Nutrition Interventions, Matlab (MINIMat) study.

BACKGROUND: Few data exist for the effects of multiple micronutrient (MM) or food supplementation to undernourished pregnant women on their offsprings' development. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to compare the effects on infant development of early (8-10 wk gestation) or usual ( approximately 17 wk gestation) supplementation with food and MM, 30 mg Fe + 400 microg folate, or 60 mg Fe + 400 microg folate. DESIGN: A large, randomized, controlled trial of pregnancy supplementation was conducted in Bangladesh. A subsample of infants (n = 2853) were assessed on 2 problem-solving tests (support and cover tests), the motor index of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, and Wolke's behavior ratings at 7 mo of age. RESULTS: There were no significant effects of any intervention in the group as a whole. However, infants of undernourished mothers [body mass index (BMI; in kg/m2) < 18.5] who received early food supplementation performed slightly but significantly (P = 0.035) better on the support test than did infants of mothers who received usual food supplementation (z score: 0.17; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.33). There were no benefits in infants of higher-BMI mothers (P = 0.024 for BMI x food interaction). Children of low-BMI mothers who received MMs had slightly better motor scores (z score: 0.28; 95% CI: 0.08, 0.48) and activity ratings (z score: 0.24; 95% CI: 0.037, 0.45) than did those who received 30 mg Fe + 400 microg folate, whereas other children did not benefit (P = 0.05 for both motor scores and BMI x micronutrients and for activity and BMI x micronutrients). CONCLUSIONS: Small benefits from early food and MM supplementation were found in infants of low-BMI but not of high-BMI mothers. However, the benefits were of doubtful functional importance, and longer follow-up is required to determine programmatic implications

Use of Family Care Indicators and Their Relationship with Child Development in Bangladesh

Poor stimulation in the home is one of the main factors affecting the development of children living in poverty. The family care indicators (FCIs) were developed to measure home stimulation in large populations and were derived from the Home Observations for Measurement of the Environment (HOME). The FCIs were piloted with 801 rural Bangladeshi mothers of children aged 18 months. Five subscales were created: 'play activities' (PA), 'varieties of play materials' (VP), 'sources of play materials', 'household books', and 'magazines and newspapers' (MN). All subscales had acceptable short-term reliability. Mental and motor development of the children was assessed on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development and their language expression and comprehension by mothers' report. After controlling for socioeconomic variables, VP and PA independently predicted four and three of the developmental outcomes respectively, and MN predicted both the Bayley scores. The FCI is promising as a survey-based indicator of the quality of children's home environment

Supplementation of Fish-oil and Soy-oil During Pregnancy and Psychomotor Development of Infants

Supplementation of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in infancy improves neuro-developmental outcomes, but there is limited information about the impact of supplementing pregnant mothers with DHA on the development of their infants. In a follow-up of a randomized, double-blind controlled trial with 400 pregnant mothers, the effects of supplementation of fish-oil or soy-oil (4 g/day) during the last trimester of pregnancy on psychomotor development and behaviour of infants at 10 months of age (n=249) were assessed. The quality of psychosocial stimulation at home (HOME) and nutritional status of the subjects were also measured. There were no significant differences in the fish-oil group and soy-oil group in any of the developmental (mean\ub1SD mental development index: 102.5\ub18.0 vs 101.5\ub17.8, psychomotor development index: 101.7\ub110.0 vs 100.5\ub110.1) or behavioural outcomes. It may, therefore, be concluded that supplementation of fish-oil during the last trimester of pregnancy does not have any added benefit over supplementation of soy-oil on the development or behaviour of infants in this population

Anxiety and stress related to COVID-19 among the community dwelling older adults residing in the largest refugee camp of the world

The current cross-sectional study was conducted among 864 older adults aged ≥ 60 years residing in Rohingya refugee camp through face-to-face interviews during November–December 2021. COVID-19-related anxiety was measured using the five-point Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) and perceived stress using the 10-point Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). The linear regression model identified the factors associated with COVID-19-related anxiety and perceived stress. The prevalence of COVID-19-related anxiety and perceived stress was 68% and 93%, respectively. The average COVID-19-related anxiety score expected to be significantly higher among those who were physically inactive, concerned about COVID-19, had a close friend/family member diagnosed with COVID-19, and had some difficulty in getting food and routine medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the average perceived stress score was expected to be significantly higher among those without partners, who were feeling overwhelmed by COVID-19, and who experienced COVID-19-related anxiety during the pandemic. The findings suggest providing immediate psychosocial support to older Rohingya adults

Spatial malaria epidemiology in Bangladeshi highlands

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Malaria Prevalence in Endemic Districts of Bangladesh

BACKGROUND: Following the 1971 ban of DDT in Bangladesh, malaria cases have increased steadily. Malaria persists as a major health problem in the thirteen south-eastern and north-eastern districts of Bangladesh. At present the national malaria control program, largely supported by the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), provides interventions including advocacy at community level, Insecticide Treated Net (ITN) distribution, introduction of Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT) and combination therapy with Coartem. It is imperative, therefore, that baseline data on malaria prevalence and other malaria indicators are collected to assess the effectiveness of the interventions and rationalize the prevention and control efforts. The objective of this study was to obtain this baseline on the prevalence of malaria and bed net use in the thirteen malaria endemic districts of Bangladesh. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In 2007, BRAC and ICDDR,B carried out a malaria prevalence survey in thirteen malaria endemic districts of Bangladesh. A multi-stage cluster sampling technique was used and 9750 blood samples were collected. Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT) were used for the diagnosis of malaria. The weighted average malaria prevalence in the thirteen endemic districts was 3.97%. In five south-eastern districts weighted average malaria prevalence rate was 6.00% and in the eight north-eastern districts weighted average malaria prevalence rate was (0.40%). The highest malaria prevalence was observed in Khagrachari district. The majority of the cases (90.18%) were P. falciparum infections. Malaria morbidity rates in five south-eastern districts was 2.94%. In eight north-eastern districts, morbidity was 0.07%. CONCLUSION AND SIGNIFICANCE: Bangladesh has hypoendemic malaria with P. falciparum the dominant parasite species. The malaria situation in the five north-eastern districts of Bangladesh in particular warrants urgent attention. Detailed maps of the baseline malaria prevalence and summaries of the data collected are provided along with the survey results in full, in a supplemental information

Mapping inequalities in exclusive breastfeeding in low- and middle-income countries, 2000–2018

Abstract: Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF)—giving infants only breast-milk for the first 6 months of life—is a component of optimal breastfeeding practices effective in preventing child morbidity and mortality. EBF practices are known to vary by population and comparable subnational estimates of prevalence and progress across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are required for planning policy and interventions. Here we present a geospatial analysis of EBF prevalence estimates from 2000 to 2018 across 94 LMICs mapped to policy-relevant administrative units (for example, districts), quantify subnational inequalities and their changes over time, and estimate probabilities of meeting the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target (WHO GNT) of ≥70% EBF prevalence by 2030. While six LMICs are projected to meet the WHO GNT of ≥70% EBF prevalence at a national scale, only three are predicted to meet the target in all their district-level units by 2030