"Why do I have to Clean Teeth Regularly?”: Perceptions and State of Oral and Dental Health in a Low-income Rural Community in Bangladesh

The general perception that dentistry is expensive keeps many people away from seeking treatment from registered professionals and make them hostage to the services of non-registered lay practitioners. In Bangladesh, no statistics on dental health problems or seeking dental healthcare is available which necessitates study for informed planning of a preventive programme. BRAC Research and Evaluation Division carried out a pilot survey in three unions of Gauripur upazila to document the knowledge and awareness and existing oral hygiene practices among the rural people and also, to explore the care-giving practices of the healthcare practitioners - both professionals and non-professionals. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used for data collection. [Working paper No. 20]. URL:[http://www.bracresearch.org/workingpapers/red_wp20_new.pdf].dental, preventive, Gauripur, oral, chewing, swallowing, speech, population-based pilot survey, dentistry, practitioners, Bangladesh, dental health problems, rural people, healthcare, quantitative, qualitative, data collection,

Yield Potential of Some Exotic and Local Tomato Cultivars Grown for Summer Production

Abstract: Ten cultivars of tomato were evaluated on the basis of days to flowering, fruit setting and maturity period, number and weight of fruit per plant, length and width of fruit, average fruit weight, plant height and yield. The cultivars Nova Mech, Early Mech, Chico III, Nadir, Tanja and Sorrento were early in maturity whereas ‘Samarzano ’ was a late maturing. The cultivar Tanja produced maximum fruit weight per plant (1.55 Kg) and gave the highest yield of 41.45 t /ha. It was followed by Chico-III and Sorrento which exhibited average yields of 40.32 and 39.13 t/ha respectively. Key words: Tomato, yield potential, maturity perio

Lives and Livelihoods on the Streets of Dhaka City: Findings from a Population-based Exploratory Survey

BRAC has long been working to empower people and communities in situations of poverty, illiteracy, disease and social injustice. In recent years, BRAC has extended its activities to include the urban poor population living in the slums. As a continuation of this, and to be more inclusive, BRAC is going to implement innovative programmes for the street dwellers (who sleep on streets, railway terminals and platforms, bus stations, parks and open spaces, religious centres, construction sites and around graveyards and in other public places with no roof) in scale. BRAC Research and Evaluation Division carried out an exploratory cross-sectional survey on a sample of these populations from 10 purposively selected areas of Dhaka city to gather information on their lives and livelihoods, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. [Working Paper No.19]. URL: [http://www.bracresearch.org/workingpapers/red_wp19_new.pdf].population, street dwellers, railway, bus stations, Dhaka, quantitative, qualitative methods, Sociodemographic, economic, population-based survey, lives, livelihoods, people, communities, empower, poverty, illiteracy, disease, social injustice, slums,