Single women and later life: health and well-being of older single women living alone on the UK

Ageing and longevity have created many concerns including living alone and social isolation among older women in the UK and this has now become a growing concern to policy-makers. The paper aims to examines factors associated with health and well-being of older women living alone using data collected in the ‘Understanding Society'. It is a nationwide longitudinal survey that captures important information on the life course trajectories of individuals in the UK. There is an increasing trend of single women by age. Women living alone may need to balance in later life and the importance of comparing profiles for different groups of older women may help policy-makers towards an inclusive positive ageing

Role of Bangabandhu in expanding higher education and Bangladesh today

The study attempts to evaluate the role of Bangabandu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Founding Father of Bangladesh, in his initial plan on higher education and to produce adequate human resources to rebuild the country since independence. Secondary sources of information are used to evaluate his role in higher education expansion in Bangladesh. It has been revealed that the economic growth and development seen in Bangladesh today was largely impacted by his education plan

Overview of mortality risk of COVID-19 in older people: global perspective

The talk includes demographic change and public health challenges during Covid-19 pandemic for an ageing society. It highlights cross-country differences in the number of deaths due to Covid and mortality risk in older people. Moreover, the talk focuses global challenges to protect older people within the existing health systems

Population ageing in a globalised world: unequal risks in later life?

This talk gives an overview of the global ageing situation and also highlights important risk factors associated in later life. Some policy issues are also discussed

Healthcare workforce caring for older adults across the world: an overview

This paper evaluates the demand and supply side of healthcare for older adults in a global context and presents a plausible scenario, with examples taken from a number of selected countries, of the current position of the healthcare workforce caring for older adults. This talk will also explore the gap between the current healthcare situation and the actual support and care that are needed to help and ensure a healthy ageing population. While acknowledging that there are a good number of healthcare workers in some countries, it’s also true that they do not receive adequate training or possess the necessary skills to deliver appropriate support and care to elderly people. Findings from a recent survey on the Nigerian care workforce are shared here. The survey highlights the lack of appropriate knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) among this workforce that lead to real barriers for providing services to elderly people within the community. The findings will be of help to other regions of the world when redesigning their health care systems

Utilization of antenatal care among pregnant women of urban slums of Dhaka City, Bangladesh

Maternal health services have a potentially critical role in the improvement of reproductive health. The use of health services is related to the availability, quality and cost of the services, as well as to social structure, health beliefs and the personal characteristics of the users. Antenatal care (ANC) is an important determinant of high maternal mortality rate and one of the basic components of maternal care on which the life of mothers and babies depend. It is a key strategy for reducing maternal mortality, but millions of women in developing countries do not receive it. Extracting 3549 women from the 2006-2007 Urban Health Survey, this study assessed the utilization of antenatal care and its related factor in urban slums for pregnant women. A Cross-sectional survey was carried out large, medium and small urban squatter settlements of Dhaka City. Two hundred married women in the age range 15-49 years were interviewed. Socio-demographic characteristics of women who received and who did not receive antenatal care in their previous pregnancy were assessed by frequency distribution and bivariate analysis. Antenatal care used in any of the previous pregnancy among women under study was 861(64.3%). Education and ANC is significantly related suggesting that the higher the level of education the higher is the likelihood of receiving ANC during pregnancy because educated women are aware about the importance of ANC during pregnancy. There is a strong association between the income of the respondents and ANC received by the respondents. This study indicates that overall knowledge about antenatal care was found to be better among women who had utilized antenatal care as compared to women who did not receive antenatal care.. There is also a need to evaluate the services provided by government health facilities and to find out why women are not utilizing the government health services though these services are available at subsidized rate

Death risk of older people during Covid-19: a global perspective

Globally, longevity was perhaps one of the big achievements in the last few decades, where even developing countries were making remarkable progress (Khan, 2019). Despite all achievements, older people become vulnerable due to biological age, which accelerated their chances of developing morbidity and mortality (Culo, 2011; Reilev et al., 2020). The study aims to examine the links between demographic ageing and public health challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic. There has been a higher number of deaths reported in countries that are often considered as ageing societies. The research highlights cross-country differences in the number of deaths due to Covid-19 and mortality risk in older people. Moreover, it focuses on global challenges to protect older people within the existing health systems. The study concludes by drawing some policy issues to protect the elderly during the pandemic

Video recorded cross-examination or re-examination: a discussion on practice and research

The Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act (YJCEA, 1999) was designed as a support mechanism to alleviate fear, and enable vulnerable and intimidated witnesses (VIW) within criminal trials Special Measures (SM), such as screens and video recorded evidence (Hoyle & Zedner, 2007). The introduction of video recorded cross-examination, or re-examination, under s.28 of the YJCEA is one of the most recent SM to be used within criminal trials. This procedure reduces the time between initial examination of some witnesses and the subsequent cross-examination in not guilty cases. This discussion paper emphasises a number of key research areas that could yield future improvements within s.28. The development of linguistic psychology, best evidence, and disclosure rules would be future avenues for research, providing emphasis and direction. It is a well-recognised fact that there are inherent issues around the identification of witnesses who may benefit from measures under the YJCEA (Ellison, 1999; Burton et al., 2006; Charles, 2012). There is still a significant gap within research around the development of the Intermediary service amongst other areas of the CJS, and in relation to VIWs; however, this is seen to have strong links with the ability to conduct through interviews with witnesses and defendants alike (Plotnikoff & Woolfson, 2007; Oxburgh et al., 2016). There may be much to be gained from a process of analysis where s.28 cross-examinations take place, and subsequent recordings, are subjected to interdisciplinary research scrutiny

Knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions toward Tuberculosis in Bangladesh: a cross-sectional mixed methods study

In Bangladesh, Tuberculosis (TB) is a key public health concern. In this study we assessed knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions (KAP) towards TB among the general population. A cross-sectional mixed-methods study was conducted between March and August 2014, where a total of 400 adults were interviewed at Dhaka city in Bangladesh. The overall knowledge of TB was very limited despite 99.5% of the study respondents having heard of TB. About 99.0% stated correctly that cough was one of the major signs and symptoms of TB. About 39.0% mentioned that through airborne disease someone could get TB. With regard to curability of TB, 362 people replied that TB can be cured. About 77.0% informed that TB could be cured by taking medicines such as antibiotics or others. Sixty five percent of respondents knew someone who had have TB. The mean summary score for TB knowledge was 40 out of 100 (SD 0.5). Regression analysis shows that people with tertiary level of education were connected with higher TB knowledge and people having no income were related with lower TB knowledge. A lack of awareness was associated to delay in seeking treatment because people did not recognize the symptoms of tuberculosis. To improve knowledge of TB among people having no income or even lower income group more emphasis should be given and also more awareness is required to develop the individual’s perception amongst their neighbors in the study area. The alertness campaigns for TB knowledge should be a major concern countrywide in Bangladesh