MDG health goal 2015 : the untold stories of reproductive health

Reproductive health care services in Bangladesh are inadequate to say the least. Rural women have little or no access to health care services and remain reluctant to consult a doctor due to lack of encouragement from family members and their tendency to rely heavily on traditional healer’s medicine. There is inadequate research in regard to the causes such as beliefs and attitudes towards reproductive health among Bangladeshi women. This study used two tiered qualitative research methodology employing in-depth one-to-one interviews and focus group discussions using semi-structure questions; to confirm and validate the data collected from three villages in Rajshahi, Bangladesh. During the fieldwork, 30 one-to-one interviews and three focus group discussions were conducted using snowball sampling technique. The findings reveal three critical themes regarding rural women’s belief and attitudes toward reproductive health - a strong belief in traditional healers; a firm belief of following in-laws and seniors/elders, and superstitions regarding fertility, pregnancy and child-birth

Reproductive health beliefs and their consequences : a case study on rural indigenous women in Bangladesh

This study investigated reproductive health beliefs among rural indigenous women in Kakon Haat village at Rajshahi district of Bangladesh. An explanation for the tendency of women in these communities to access traditional healers (THs) and spiritual healers (SHs) for reproductive health services was discovered. Data was collected by means of in-depth one-to-one interviews and focus group discussions with 22 participants using a snowball sampling technique. The use of THs and SHs for reproductive health services was attributed to three dominant themes: a strong belief in THs, influence of family members, and traditional belief. The study's findings suggest that that the key to improving rural indigenous women's health lies in freeing them from mythical beliefs and misconceptions; generally borne in rural areas of Bangladesh where poverty, education, access to medical facilities, and knowledge are great concerns

Do plain packaging and anti-smoking campaigns work reverse? : Results from a pilot study

Despite a combined effort of over 37 million dollar spent for plain packaging and anti–smoking campaign in 2012–13 in Australia, recent figure show that tobacco companies sold over 21.074 billion cigarettes in Australia in 2013. This is a growing challenge, and hence the current paper aims to explore how smokers perceive plain packages. This study employed a qualitative research approach and collected data from eleven smoker–participants. The findings show that the smoker–participants barely look at the plain package images and health warning messages, and they were also found to be insensitive to the plain package images and health warning messages. They often adopt different measures to avoid seeing these images. Although the plain package creates awareness about the smoking related diseases, there is a slow pace of gripping the health related messages among some of the participants. Carefully designed campaigns with emotional appeals, and intervention programs could further bring the effectiveness of the plain package initiatives

Critical factors in service quality measurement for private universities : the case of Bangladesh

Private universities are a fast growing value-based education industry in Bangladesh. This paper undertakes an empirical examination of the factors determining the quality of services in the private universities of Bangladesh

A model for quality assessment in higher education : implications for ODL universities

This empirical study aims to develop the performance based higher education service quality model (PHEd-model), which is a comprehensive approach compared to the HEdPERF model. The scale reliability for 67-item instrument is confirmed using the Cronbach’s Alpha. The principle component analysis followed by a varimax method is used to extract the factor loadings. Based on the overall loaded items, eight dimensions are found, namely, dependability, effectiveness, capability, efficiency, competencies, assurance, unusual situation management, and semester-syllabus grading (SSG). The chi-square test, relative likelihood ratio test, and RMSEA, CFI and GFI tests are used using the AMOS 5 in order to ensure the validity and the strength of data to fit in the model. The results are satisfactory. This study underlines some critical dimensions and related factors in which the tertiary institutions should concentrate their efforts. Moreover, this study shows the guidelines that are worthy for measuring and ensuring the education quality in open and distance learning universities. Although the empirical results for the PHEd model are significant, a comparative study among PHEd, HEdPERF and SERVPERF can produce relative strengths of these models

The value–attitude–intention–behaviour (VAIB) model: The case of organic food in Bangladesh

The foundation of this study is the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), which has been empirically examined in organic food consumption research in various countries’ contexts, however, most of those studies either examined attitude-intention or intention-behaviour relationships (Hassan, Shiu, and Shaw, 2016). In addition, there is a lack of research in the Bangladesh context, where the market for organic food items is growing. This study empirically examines the role of perceived organic food value in the attitude-intention-behaviour (VAIB) relationship of the TPB model. Data were collected from 227 Bangladeshi samples, and the VAIB model was validated through the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) technique with causal, mediation and multi-group analyses. The novel contribution of this study is the validation of the VAIB model. Future research can extend and validate the VAIB model

Reproductive health care services : a case study of belief and perception of rural indigenous women of Kakonhat in Bangladesh

Reproductive health care services are inadequate and often characterised as traditional in Bangladesh. This situation is intensified due to a lack of reproductive health care facilities, poverty and proper education. As a result, rural women are more skewed towards social and cultural beliefs about reproductive health. This study investigates these beliefs (often termed as myths) and the reasons of such beliefs. This study used one-to-one in-depth interview technique using semi-structured questions. The purposive and convenience sampling techniques were used to select five cases from a village for the purpose of this study. This study finds three main beliefs including malevolent, in-door stay, and following in-laws and seniors in terms of rural women’s maternity health. This study also finds that poverty plays a critical role for a sustained belief structure in the sampled area, where traditional healers are the ultimate winner. This study argues that poverty is the main reason for holding these beliefs firmly amongst rural and indigenous women and for accessing to a tradition healer, who is much cheaper and easier to access than a professional doctor. Based on these findings, this study develops a four grid belief–poverty framework. The findings of this study are an indication, only, of the current state of achieving one of the millennium development goals (MDGs) of Bangladesh, ‘improve maternal health’ (Goal 5), by 2015. This study could be a useful framework and a point of departure for including a particular and vulnerable women cohort of rural Bangladesh, and re-formulating relevant policies and strategies

Reproductive health beliefs and perceptions among slum women in Bangladesh : is this a challenge to MDG5 health goal?

This study investigates the reproductive health beliefs and perceptions among rural indigenous women and the reasons for accessing to traditional healers (TH) and spiritual healers (SH) for reproductive health services. Data was collected by means of in-depth one-to-one interviews with eight samples of Meherchondi, Rajshahi in Bangladesh, using snowball sampling technique. This study finds three dominant themes-a strong belief in TH, influence of family members, and traditional belief; and develops three frameworks including the belief themes and reasons, the belief-poverty framework, and factors influencing the decision to access rural health care clinics