Coming of Age in Contemporary Pakistan: Influences of Gender and Poverty

Economic development is strongly connected to the longevity, growth and structure of country’s population [Bloom and Canning (2003)]. Pakistan currently has the largest cohort of young people in its history (25 million aged 15–24, Census 1998) that has serious implications for the provision of schooling, health services and adequate jobs. Therefore the well being of these valuable young cohorts is profoundly important for the social and economic development and prosperity of Pakistan [Population Council (2003)]. This demographic lift can promote economic lift-off [Bloom and Canning (2003)]. In fact, Pakistan will face dire consequences if this resource is not capitalised and young people remain uneducated and unskilled [Faizunnisa and Ikram (2003)]. Work is one of the key transitions in the lives of young people. It is an important marker of adulthood, with strong implications for a country’s social and economic development. Work depending on its nature and remuneration can be the most important factor shaping adult lives. Youth employment has many implications for the labour market, poorer households and for the youth themselves. There has been relatively little or no opportunity to study the transition to adulthood in developing countries due to the lack of longitudinal data on youth. Most development research and programmes on adolescents and youth have focused on sexual and reproductive behaviour [Mensch and Greene (1998)]. However the participation of young people aged 15–24 in the labour force is emerging as an important development issue. Most of the studies, carried out on economic activities are primarily restricted to the empirical efforts to estimate the level of labour force participation. This is the area least explored in Pakistan and little is known regarding various dimensions of youth’s involvement in labour force including the determinants pushing them towards work. Increased attention has been directed at understanding the factors that encourage and/or discourage their involvement in work. Durrant (2000), analysed the Pakistan Integrated Household Surveys 1991 and PIHS 1995-96, that highlighted various opportunities and constraints towards

Coming of Age in Contemporary Pakistan: Influences of Gender and Poverty

Economic development is strongly connected to the longevity, growth and structure of country’s population [Bloom and Canning (2003)]. Pakistan currently has the largest cohort of young people in its history (25 million aged 15-24, Census 1998) that has serious implications for the provision of schooling, health services and adequate jobs. Therefore the well being of these valuable young cohorts is profoundly important for the social and economic development and prosperity of Pakistan [Population Council (2003)]. This demographic lift can promote economic lift-off [Bloom and Canning (2003)]. In fact, Pakistan will face dire consequences if this resource is not capitalised and young people remain uneducated and unskilled [Faizunnisa and Ikram (2003)]. Work is one of the key transitions in the lives of young people. It is an important marker of adulthood, with strong implications for a country’s social and economic development. Work depending on its nature and remuneration can be the most important factor shaping adult lives. Youth employment has many implications for the labour market, poorer households and for the youth themselves

Quality of Education in Independent and Franchise Private Secondary Schools in Pakistan

Pakistan has a variety of privately managed schools. Inspired by thecorporate model the large school systems offer franchise to the smallschools in the name of better quality education leading to better marketacceptability. This study was conducted to find out the difference in thequality of education provided by the franchise and independent privatesecondary schools. Ten schools of a renowned large spread schoolsystem were selected conveniently and ten independent schools wereselected from the same localities for ensuring similarity of the context.Quality of education was define dalong input, process and product/outputindicators. Opinion of Head Teachers (HTs)/ School principals wasgathered through a questionnaire consisting five point rating scale oninput and process indicators. Opinion of HTs about input indicators wasvalidated through direct observation of the input indicators in the schoolsby one of the researchers. Students’ achievement scores in thematriculation examination conducted by the Board of Intermediate andSecondary Education, Lahore were the indicator of quality output. TheHTs of the two types of schools perceived no significant difference in thequality of input and process at their schools but the independent schoolsscoring slightly better on each of the two indicators. However, theindependent private schools were significantly superior to the franchiseschools in quality of output in terms of students’ pass percentage anddistribution over grades. Thus, the claim of franchising for better qualityeducation was not supported by this research

Two worlds under the same roof: A brief on gender difference in transitions to adulthood

Adolescence, a time of transition to adulthood, is different for young men and women in Pakistan; brothers and sisters living under the same roof have different opportunities available in all aspects of life. More young people aged 15–24 live in Pakistan now than at any other time in its history—an estimated 36 million in 2004. Recognizing the dearth of information on the situation of this large group of young people, the Population Council undertook a nationally representative survey from October 2001 to March 2002. The analysis presented in this brief comes from Adolescents and Youth in Pakistan 2001–02: A Nationally Representative Survey. The survey sought information from youth aged 15–24, responsible adults in the household, and other community members in 254 communities. A total of 6,585 households were visited and 8,074 young people were interviewed. This brief concludes that girls face disadvantages, especially in rural areas, and that parents, community, and policymakers need to work together to ensure that girls, like their brothers, are able to make a successful transition to adulthood

Screening for cervical cancer (By VIA Test) among selected garments worker in Chattogram, Bangladesh

Background: Bangladesh is a densely populated country of South East Asia with low resource setting where cervical cancer is the 2nd leading cause of female cancer. In more than 80% cases are diagnosed at advanced and inoperable stage. Regarding socio demographic context of this country VIA has been introduced as a screening method for cervical cancer which is most simple, cost effective, and acceptable test for all women. In Bangladesh among 3 million garment workers more than 80% are women. The objective of this study was to identify prevalence of VIA positive cases among garment workers. So that it can reduce the incidence of cervical cancer in Bangladesh. Methods: It was a cross–sectional observational study conducted in some selected garment factories in Chattogram city of Bangladesh from January 2021 to July 2021, where we enrolled 534 female workers for VIA test. Results: Among all the respondents 56% were 30 years or younger, 38% were aged between 31 to 40 years. Among 534 participants, 44.9% completed primary education, 37.3% were smoker and 34.5% had their children at early age. Majority (86.7%) had excessive whitish discharge. Post coital bleeding and irregular bleeding was 2.6% and 2.2% respectively. Considering awareness, 61.8% had idea about cervical cancer, only 1.1% had undergone VIA test in the past. In our study we found 2.4% of participants were VIA positive cases. Conclusions: It is important to include the garment workers, while making public health policies and implementation of cervical cancer control program

Adolescents and Youth in Pakistan 2001-2002: A Nationally Representative Survey

Published by the Population Council\u27s Islamabad office, this is the first comprehensive survey of Pakistani youth. The report provides an unprecedented view of young people\u27s experiences with and attitudes about education, employment, families, and marriage. The report findings confirm the large differences in the current situation of adolescents and youth, males versus females, from different strata of residence and economic status. Addressing these requires government intervention, changes in attitude, and input from the media, women and youth groups, and members of civil society

Adaptation of metal and antibiotic resistant traits in novel β-Proteobacterium Achromobacter xylosoxidans BHW-15

Chromosomal co-existence of metal and antibiotic resistance genes in bacteria offers a new perspective to the bacterial resistance proliferation in contaminated environment. In this study, an arsenotrophic bacterium Achromobacter xylosoxidans BHW-15, isolated from Arsenic (As) contaminated tubewell water in the Bogra district of Bangladesh, was analyzed using high throughput Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine (PGM) complete genome sequencing scheme to reveal its adaptive potentiality. The assembled draft genome of A. xylosoxidans BHW-15 was 6.3 Mbp containing 5,782 functional genes, 1,845 pseudo genes, and three incomplete phage signature regions. Comparative genome study suggested the bacterium to be a novel strain of A. xylosoxidans showing significant dissimilarity with other relevant strains in metal resistance gene islands. A total of 35 metal resistance genes along with arsenite-oxidizing aioSXBA, arsenate reducing arsRCDAB, and mercury resistance merRTPADE operonic gene cluster and 20 broad range antibiotic resistance genes including β-lactams, aminoglycosides, and multiple multidrug resistance (MDR) efflux gene complex with a tripartite system OM-IM-MFP were found co-existed within the genome. Genomic synteny analysis with reported arsenotrophic bacteria revealed the characteristic genetic organization of ars and mer operonic genes, rarely described in β-Proteobacteria. A transposon Tn21 and mobile element protein genes were also detected to the end of mer (mercury) operonic genes, possibly a carrier for the gene transposition. In vitro antibiotic susceptibility assay showed a broad range of resistance against antibiotics belonging to β-lactams, aminoglycosides, cephalosporins (1st, 2nd, and 3rd generations), monobactams and even macrolides, some of the resistome determinants were predicted during in silico analysis. KEGG functional orthology analysis revealed the potential of the bacterium to utilize multiple carbon sources including one carbon pool by folate, innate defense mechanism against multiple stress conditions, motility, a proper developed cell signaling and processing unit and secondary metabolism-combination of all exhibiting a robust feature of the cell in multiple stressed conditions. The complete genome of the strain BHW-15 stands as a genetic basis for the evolutionary adaptation of metal and the antibiotic coexistence phenomenon in an aquatic environment

Effect of early tranexamic acid administration on mortality, hysterectomy, and other morbidities in women with post-partum haemorrhage (WOMAN): an international, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background Post-partum haemorrhage is the leading cause of maternal death worldwide. Early administration of tranexamic acid reduces deaths due to bleeding in trauma patients. We aimed to assess the effects of early administration of tranexamic acid on death, hysterectomy, and other relevant outcomes in women with post-partum haemorrhage. Methods In this randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, we recruited women aged 16 years and older with a clinical diagnosis of post-partum haemorrhage after a vaginal birth or caesarean section from 193 hospitals in 21 countries. We randomly assigned women to receive either 1 g intravenous tranexamic acid or matching placebo in addition to usual care. If bleeding continued after 30 min, or stopped and restarted within 24 h of the first dose, a second dose of 1 g of tranexamic acid or placebo could be given. Patients were assigned by selection of a numbered treatment pack from a box containing eight numbered packs that were identical apart from the pack number. Participants, care givers, and those assessing outcomes were masked to allocation. We originally planned to enrol 15 000 women with a composite primary endpoint of death from all-causes or hysterectomy within 42 days of giving birth. However, during the trial it became apparent that the decision to conduct a hysterectomy was often made at the same time as randomisation. Although tranexamic acid could influence the risk of death in these cases, it could not affect the risk of hysterectomy. We therefore increased the sample size from 15 000 to 20 000 women in order to estimate the effect of tranexamic acid on the risk of death from post-partum haemorrhage. All analyses were done on an intention-to-treat basis. This trial is registered with ISRCTN76912190 (Dec 8, 2008); ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00872469; and PACTR201007000192283. Findings Between March, 2010, and April, 2016, 20 060 women were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive tranexamic acid (n=10 051) or placebo (n=10 009), of whom 10 036 and 9985, respectively, were included in the analysis. Death due to bleeding was significantly reduced in women given tranexamic acid (155 [1·5%] of 10 036 patients vs 191 [1·9%] of 9985 in the placebo group, risk ratio [RR] 0·81, 95% CI 0·65–1·00; p=0·045), especially in women given treatment within 3 h of giving birth (89 [1·2%] in the tranexamic acid group vs 127 [1·7%] in the placebo group, RR 0·69, 95% CI 0·52–0·91; p=0·008). All other causes of death did not differ significantly by group. Hysterectomy was not reduced with tranexamic acid (358 [3·6%] patients in the tranexamic acid group vs 351 [3·5%] in the placebo group, RR 1·02, 95% CI 0·88–1·07; p=0·84). The composite primary endpoint of death from all causes or hysterectomy was not reduced with tranexamic acid (534 [5·3%] deaths or hysterectomies in the tranexamic acid group vs 546 [5·5%] in the placebo group, RR 0·97, 95% CI 0·87-1·09; p=0·65). Adverse events (including thromboembolic events) did not differ significantly in the tranexamic acid versus placebo group. Interpretation Tranexamic acid reduces death due to bleeding in women with post-partum haemorrhage with no adverse effects. When used as a treatment for postpartum haemorrhage, tranexamic acid should be given as soon as possible after bleeding onset. Funding London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Pfizer, UK Department of Health, Wellcome Trust, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation