Adequate Antenatal Care Visits among Tribal Women in Bangladesh

Maternal mortality is a global concern, and peaks in developing countries. Adequate antenatal care services (ANCs) are indispensable for both maternal and fetal survival. A global trend leads us to the notion that aboriginal women are somewhat less privileged than non-tribal mothers around the world. Hence, this study determines the association of socio-economic status and adequate use of ANC facilities by Bangladesh's tribal women. This study is a quantitative study using a convenient sampling technique. Semi-structured questionnaires were used to obtain data on married women (n=556) between the ages of 15–49 who had children aged 1 year or under. The data were analyzed using the SPSS program (version 20). Associations were determined using Chi-square test and regression analysis of maternal health care services and the adequacy of ANC use. Significance was determined at p-value <0.10. Results show that only 29.9% of pregnant tribal women sought ANC services, of which 13.5% visits hospital for ANC services four times or more during pregnancy. Significant association between age at first marriage, religion, family planning with adequate use of ANC services was observed. This study concludes that women’s education, occupation, state of the economy, residence location, and distance from health care facilities all positively influences the adequate use of ANC services. Thus, upgrading socioeconomic status, decentralization of health facilities and women’s education is recommended for adequate utilization of ANC services

Mathematical modeling on the transmission of COVID-19 and its reproduction numbers in SAARC countries

In the middle of December 2019, a virus known as coronavirus (COVID-19) generated by severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARC-CoV-2) was first detected in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. As of the 9th of March, 2022, spread to over 212 countries, causing 429 million confirmed cases and 6 million people to lose their lives worldwide. In developing countries like the South Asian area, alarming dynamic variations in the pattern of confirmed cases and death tolls were displayed. During epidemics, accurate assessment of the characteristics that characterize infectious disease transmission is critical for optimizing control actions, planning, and adapting public health interventions. The reproductive number, or the typical number of secondary cases caused by an infected individual, can be employed to determine transmissibility. Several statistical and mathematical techniques have been presented to calculate across the duration of an epidemic. A technique is provided for calculating epidemic reproduction numbers. It is a MATLAB version of the EpiEstim package's R function estimate R, version 2.2-3. in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries. The three methodologies supported are 'parametric SI,' 'non-parametric SI,' and 'uncertain SI.' The present study indicated that the highest reproduction number was 12.123 and 11.861 on 5th and 14th March 2020 in India and Sri_Lanka, whereas the lowest reproduction number was the lowest was 0.300 and 0.315 in Sri_Lanka and India. The Maximum and minimum reproductive number of Bangladesh was 3.752 and 0.725. In this study, we have tried to point out the worst, best and current situation of SAARC countries

Estimation of the SARS-CoV-2 specific reproduction number in SAARC countries: A 60-days Data-driven analysis

Novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) was acknowledged as a global pandemic by WHO, which was first observed at the end of December 2019 in Wuhan city, China, caused by extreme acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus2 (SARS-CoV-2). According to the Weekly operation Update on COVID-19 (November 13, 2020) of the World Health Organization, more than 53 million confirmed cases are reported, including 1.3 million deaths. Various precautionary measures have been taken worldwide to reduce its transmission, and extensive researches are going on. The purpose of this analysis was to determine the initial number of reproductions (Ro) of the coronavirus of SAARC countries named Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, the Maldives, and Sri-Lanka for the first 60 days as the growth is exponential in the early 60 days. The reproduction numbers of coronavirus for Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka are 1.47, 3.86, 2.07, 1.43, 1.31, 3.22, 1.75, and 2.39 respectively. The basic reproduction number (R0) 3.86 for Bangladesh and 1.31 for Bhutan indicated that up to 60-days of the outbreak COVID-19, the epidemic was more severe in Bangladesh and less severe in Bhutan among all the SAARC countries. Our predictions can be helpful in planning alertness and taking the appropriate measures to monitor it

Modeling on population growth and its adaptation: A comparative analysis between Bangladesh and India

The biggest challenge in the world is population growth and determining how society and the state adapt to it as it directly affects the fundamental human rights such as food, clothing, housing, education, medical care, etc. The population estimates of any country play an important role in making the right decision about socio-economic and population development projects. Unpredictable population growth can be a curse. The purpose of this research article is to compare the accuracy process and proximity of three mathematical model such as Malthusian or exponential growth model, Logistic growth model and Least Square model to make predictions about the population growth of Bangladesh and India at the end of 21st century. Based on the results, it has been observed that the population is expected to be 429.32(in million) in Bangladesh and 3768.53 (in million) in India by exponential model, 211.70(in million) in Bangladesh and 1712.94(in million) in India by logistic model and 309.28 (in million) in Bangladesh and 2686.30 (in million) in India by least square method at the end of 2100. It was found that the projection data from 2000 to 2020 using the Logistic Growth Model was very close to the actual data. From that point of view, it can be predicted that the population will be 212 million in Bangladesh and 1713 million in India at the end of the 21st century. Although transgender people are recognized as the third sex but their accurate statistics data is not available. The work also provides a comparative scenario of how the state has adapted to the growing population in the past and how they will adapt in the future

Assessing barriers for delayed antenatal care services among tribal women of Bangladesh

Introduction The time to start Antenatal Care (ANC) check-up is very significant because it determines the way to resolve complications and remedies during pregnancy. Different parameters play important roles in participating ANC in a society. A global consensus gives us the idea that most tribal people living in remote areas are far from basic needs related to education, employment, and affordable healthcare. The study aimed to delve into delayed ANC practices and the factors affecting the decision to receive ANC among tribal women dwelling in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh. Methods This paper is a quantitative study. Interview schedule or questionnaire was mainly used as an instrument for data collection from 556 married women having babies for less than one year. Multinomial logistic regression was performed to determine significant factors related to the time of the introduction of ANC. Results Only 16.4% of the women had started to receive ANC in the early stage of pregnancy (≤3 months) and 13.5%, after three months (delayed ANC) of their pregnancies. 70% did not seek ANC. The result found that one-third (29.9%) of the pregnant women wanted ANC from a trained doctor, but only 16.4% initiated attendance within three months of the pregnancy. Conclusions The study results suggest that specific efforts are needed to advance the socio-economic status of the tribal people; they need to increase the educational level of women and their husbands, build their nearest health centers, and strengthen family planning programs

Bridging the Information Gap with Cost-Effective Dissemination Strategies: The Case of Integrated Pest Management in Bangladesh

Cost-effective extension strategies are needed to promote widespread adoption of agricultural technologies in developing countries. Integrated pest management (IPM) practices, for example, can offer economic, health, and environmental benefits but remain largely underused. This study evaluates the current IPM dissemination program implemented by the Bangladesh Department of Agricultural Extension and uses a linear programming model to examine alternative strategies to improve IPM adoption. Results suggest that technology transfer programs may increase their impact by reallocating funding from intensive but costly interpersonal communication methods (i.e., farmer field schools) to less intensive methods (i.e., mass media and field days) that reach broader audiences