Women’s Perception of Air Pollution and Associated Health Hazard Aspects – A Study in Low-Income Urban Space in Bangladesh

This paper explores women s perception of air pollution and associated health hazards they experience in the low-income urban community of Bangladesh Following the qualitative methodology the research employs primary and secondary data to scrutinize the linkage betweenair pollution and women s health Data analysis in both percentages and an interpretive thematic approach was supported by two focus group discussions and 15 in-depth interviews conducted in the Mridhabari area in Matuail one of the environmentally vulnerable areas in urban Bangladesh The findings show that poor women s comprehension of emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants is unsound and erroneous Though women suffer from multiple physical psychological and reproductive health sicknesses due to their stay in a place with poor air quality their apathetic outlook on health reinforced by socially accepted gender norms ignorance misconception and blind faith contributes to avoiding seeking any medical treatment while getting sic

Stressors perceived by the clinical undergraduate medical students towards the end of course

Response or reaction of the mind to the pressure of life is stress. Medical students of Bangladesh are in stress to meet the demands of the curriculum. This study was conducted on the regularly passed final year students of a medical college to find out the nature of stresses perceived by them. The response was collected on a validated structured set of questionnaire, 3 weeks prior to the University level summative examination and 63 students (33 male and 30 female) participated in the study. Stress was expressed in five levels and scored as 0 to 4. Academic related factors were identified as maximum stress provoking (2.5 ± 1.3) than group activity (1.6 ± 1.4), drive (1.4 ± 1.5), teaching-learning (2.3 ± 1.3), personnel (1.8 ± 1.6) or social (1.9 ± 1.5) related factors. Of that group of stress, ‘falling behind reading schedule’ and ‘large amount of content to be learned’ were revealed as heavy stressors. Examination was identified as a severe stressor in 42.4% male, but was marked less (16.7%) in the female. ‘Too much restriction in the campus’ was observed as heavy stressors among the factors other than the academic related stressors. Students may be motivated to develop a coping strategy for academic and teaching-learning related stress

ASSESSING VULNERABILITY OF LOW INCOME COMMUTERS WITH RESPECT TO THEIR TRANSPORT MOBILITY- CONSIDERING DHAKA AS A CASE STUDY

Low income commuters in Dhaka are facing a big challenge to find a better and efficient transport system. Even though many research have been conducted in Dhaka on transport vulnerability with respect to traffic accident, transport vulnerability considering social circumstance of low income earners has seldom got importance.Combination of qualitative and Quantitative analysis was the methodological approach adopted for this research Quantitative analysis comprised exploratory analysis of the survey data and Calibration of Multinomial Logit model (MNL). Qualitative analysis comprised review of National Transport Plan (NTP), National Integrated Transport Plan (NITP), and revised Strategic Transport Plan (RSTP) based on the evaluation criteria achieved from analysing survey data and MNL model result.A travel survey has been conducted on low income commuters in Dhaka from different locations.  Participants of the travel survey were selected randomly. Exploratory analysis of the survey data showed among the low income commuter different social demographic characteristics, such as age, gender, educational qualification and occupation, has insignificant influence on their mode choice decision. Distance, moving time, waiting time and travel cost are the main variables that lead them toward their modal preference. MNL results also provide similar scenario. However, result shows magnitude of coefficient of moving time is more compared to magnitude of coefficient of travel cost. Therefore, low income commuters are more sensitive to moving time than travel cost. Another important finding from the analysis is low income commuters who are in the lower end of the income live near to their work place sacrificing their living condition by living in slums. These commuters mainly walk to their work place. Those who are in higher end of income usually have financial independence to spend more on their transport. .Evaluating transport plan, policy and study showed except NITP NTP and RSTP did not address low income commuters’ transport issue directly. Other issues such as, travel cost, travel cost, and alternative transport option have been addressed in these plan, policy and study.  Even though these issues have been addressed, in reality none of them achieved directly.This research not only assesses the transport vulnerability of low income commuters in Dhaka, but also provides a conceptual framework to policymakers and researchers. This framework can be adopted for other cities in Bangladesh. Other similar developing countries also can use this framework to assess the transport vulnerability of low income commuters.

Acceptability of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to commuters in Dhaka

This research has made substantial and novel contributions to the body of knowledge by combining mixed, quantitative and qualitative analyses to understand the potential uptake of a proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system by commuters in a developing country's megacity, using Dhaka, Bangladesh as the case study. The quantitative analysis took a unique approach by dividing the analysis into an exploratory analysis of Revealed Preference (RP) survey data, modelling with RP data and modelling with Preferred Mode Selection (PMS) survey data. The qualitative analysis also made a novel contribution by taking a "lesson drawing" approach from model cities in analysing Dhaka's transport environment

Prospective bus rapid transit scenarios for pilot corridor in Dhaka

Dhaka doesn’t have a mature transport system. Lacking in institutional arrangements, policy and planning, and law enforcement, the transport system operates has developed ad hoc and is situationally problematic. Absence of proper coordination between modes, poor public transport system, inadequate pedestrian facilities, and environmental degradation justify full consideration of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Dhaka. BRT centres on sustainable transport principles. BRT is a system, which is capable to mitigate Dhaka’s transport problem if properly planned. In Strategic transport plan of Dhaka three BRT transport corridor has been proposed and BRT pre-feasibility study came up with one pilot corridor for early implementation of BRT. This paper first reviews international best practices then explores various BRT system packages and evaluates the suitability of these BRT packages by analyzing current bus service condition and physical and geometric configuration along the BRT pilot corridor. It concludes by proposing some BRT scenarios, which can be considered for further evaluation with respect to speed, delay, travel time and environmental pollution

Factors effecting motor vehicle growth in Dhaka

Dhaka’s traffic is heterogeneous, both motorized (MT) and non-motorized (NMT) transport are common. Traffic congestion has become a part of city dwellers’ lives. This paper explores the factors for motor vehicle growth in Dhaka. The scope of the paper will be limited to literature review..

Travel behaviour of workers in Dhaka and their attitudes towards road pricing

Dhaka, Bangladesh faces chronic traffic congestion Funding for major infrastructure proves challenging This research is investigating feasibility of adopting: -Road Pricing -with significant Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) projec