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There is nearly equal number of male and female student enrollments in primary and secondary level of education in Bangladesh, but at the tertiary level and at the job sector, a sharp drop in the number of women is observed. This paper explores the current status of female students' enrollment in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at the tertiary education system in Bangladesh. It is followed by explorations of challenges women face in technical workplace. Quantitative data for the paper come from more than 1.18 million students at tertiary level from eight public and private universities for three academic years from 2018 to 2020. In addition, a qualitative study was conducted with 48 participants in pre- and during COVID-19 eras to understand barriers hampering women in STEM-related education and jobs. The paper provides a guideline for future policies to ensure inclusive space for growth and retention for women in STEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban river restoration efforts are growing worldwide. Along with restoring and conserving rivers, riverside land is slated for public recreation, property development, and infrastructure for adaptation to climate change. Riverine landscapes, embedded in larger watershed ecosystems and claimed by multiple communities, are sites of contested planning in contemporary cities. In this paper, we advance the scholarship on contestation over control and access of urban rivers and floodplains by analyzing the role of river restorative legislation and water-centered planning in managing Turag, an urban river in Bangladesh. While river degradation in urbanizing regions is often ascribed to lack of regulatory controls and enforcement, we argue that restorative legislation and interventions facilitate Turag River's ecocide by processes of territorialization. Territorialization refers to the co-constitutive dynamics of river restorative legislations and interventions as well as planned infrastructure and land use changes, which erase and displace river-based communities with reciprocal relations to the river. Riverine livelihoods and lifemaking, among fishing and farming communities in the case of Turag, are erased from planning and restoration practices, and are consequently expelled from the expanding city. Drawing on qualitative and counter-cartographic investigation of one severely polluted urban river in Dhaka, Bangladesh, we show how territorialization materializes through five co-constitutive dynamics involving environmental legislation, encroachment reporting, river demarcation, encroachment evictions, and wetland to land conversions. We draw out critical implications of how river restoration can be just and advance a riverine urbanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While youth are routinely lauded as "change-makers," they are often underserved and unsupported in refugee responses. As the Rohingya face protracted displacement in Bangladesh, what is the state of youth inclusion in the response? Do youth and adolescents feel supported, or are they ignored and left behind? To answer these questions, the paper uses: Literature on youth participation and inclusion in humanitarian programming; Key informant interviews with practitioners from national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and UN agencies; Focus group discussions and key informant interviews with refugee individuals and groups across nine camps for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. It finds that: Refugee Rohingya youth and adolescents remain firmly on the margins of humanitarian programming, and are largely excluded from decision-making processes; Approximately 96 percent of surveyed youth between 18 and 24 years of age report being unemployed; For surveyed women aged 18–24 years, unemployment rates bordered on 99 percent; and Stress and anxiety are omnipresent amongst the community: an overwhelming majority of respondents reported experiencing disturbing thoughts and resorting to negative coping mechanisms. The paper ends with a series of recommendations to the Strategic Executive Group (SEG) and the Inter-Sector Coordination Group (ISCG), to donors, the international community, and the government of Bangladesh. 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engaging in 'reflexive practice' throughout the research process (Benson and O'Reilly, 2022) and a 'reflexivity of discomfort' (Hamdan, 2009) through an intersectional lens, this article presents a reflective account of accessing and conducting observations and interviews at a South Asian women's organisation, in North England, to explore Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslim (PBM) lone motherhood. It critically explores how researchers' own subjectivities and intersecting identities – in this case, my intersecting identities and positionalities as a young British Pakistani Muslim women, researcher and volunteer – impact interactions in different circumstances with different groups of participants and the importance of having continuous critical self-awareness. Moving beyond simplistic insider–outsider debates, the paper contributes towards further developing reflexivity debates taking an 'intersectional reflexivity' approach. It argues for thinking about the research process and engagements in the field as socially constructed, changing, adapting and negotiated overtime and to utilise intersectionality to unpick broader categories. Finally, it encourages researchers to adopt reflexivity in their research practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Age gap between spouses has important implications for a range of outcomes—from fertility and longevity, to gender relationships, marital quality, and stability. This paper examines the age gap between spouses in 12 countries in South and Southeast Asia. The average age difference (husband's minus wife's age) is positive in all countries and ranges from 2.7 in Myanmar to 8.4 in Bangladesh. Age homogamous marriages accounted for 5% of all marriages in Bangladesh to close to half of all marriages in Thailand. The proportion of age hypogamous marriages was uniformly low in all the countries except for Myanmar where it reaches close to 10%. Men's marriage age has a stronger effect in determining the age gap. In general, the age gap for women with lower education was larger than for those with higher education. However, much of this effect was explained by the difference in marriage timing across educational groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the impact of citizen's charters in delivering services by Union Parishads in Bangladesh in Bengali-majority and tribal areas. Using a qualitative research method, the case study was used to look at CC implementation in a comprehensive and in-depth way. Interview and observation methods were employed to collect data. One hundred interviewees from each union, including service providers, service users, and LG officials, were consulted in equal numbers from May to July 2019. The findings of this study reveal that, although Union Parishads of both areas are implementing charters, their performance differs. Subjects of performance variation are timeliness of service delivery, cost of services and responsiveness of the service providers. Performance variation results from varying degrees of implementation of the citizen's charter, attributable to several factors that include citizens' awareness, knowledge and skills, implementation willingness, and performance monitoring of the local officials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary objective of this paper is to empirically examine the nature and statistical significance of the news effect on conditional volatility of unpredictable components of stock returns. Daily stock return data of 12 local and multinational companies on Dhaka Stock Exchange Ltd., Bangladesh, for the period 1990 to 2011 were used in this study. The likelihood of asymmetric effects of news on conditional volatility was tested using a set of diagnostics under the Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH) framework. The results fail to reject the null hypothesis of symmetric effects, thereby suggesting that the conditional volatility of unpredictable components of stock returns is affected equally by positive and negative news. The robustness of the results was further checked by using three widely used asymmetric models, namely exponential GARCH (EGARCH), Glosten, Jagannathan & Runkle (GJR)-GARCH, and a partially non-parametric Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedastic (PNP-ARCH) models. Yet again, the results do not provide any evidence of significant asymmetric effects in the volatility process. In addition, the descriptive results confirm the stylized facts of unpredictable return series such as non-normal distribution, time variant conditional volatility, and persistence in return volatility. Collectively these findings, perhaps, indicate the adequacy of the GARCH (1,1) model in representing the data generating process. A number of regulatory and behavioral factors that are anticipated to be accountable for the absence of asymmetric news effects are underlined. Finally, some policy implications of the results and possible extensions of the present paper are also conveyed. JEL codes: G10, G12, G14 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on nine months of ethnographic fieldwork with children and adults in an Urdu-speaking Bihari camp in Bangladesh, this paper critically explores the ambiguities, nuances, and messiness of children's everyday lives and the complex ways in which children negotiate and exercise their agency. With a critical and reflexive analysis of children's experiences in everyday lives, this paper aims to make a meaningful contribution to the knowledge of childhood and children's everyday lives in the majority world context by focusing on an under-researched minority within Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies in the United Kingdom have shown distinctions in intergenerational co-residency between UK-born and foreign-born individuals, however, little research has examined how factors such as immigrant incorporation, economic adaptation, and kin availability shape household formation patterns among immigrants. This paper uses data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (2009–2010) to explore differences in the likelihood of UK-born and foreign-born working-aged adults to co-reside with at least one parent, highlighting distinctions by life stage (age) at migration and gender. Results show that, regardless of life stage at migration, foreign-born women and men are less likely to co-reside with parents than UK-born, however, intergenerational co-residency is high among some second-generation immigrant groups, particularly UK-born Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi individuals. These findings challenge cultural assumptions about household formation patterns and point to the need for additional research on how economic inequality, kin availability, and gender norms shape immigrant household composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a gendered analysis of remittance behaviour in households that depend on overseas earnings. Applying the conceptualisation of gender as 'doing' and 'performativity' to migrant communities in Bangladesh, it discovers the functioning of various subject positions adopted by men and women as remitters, receivers, providers and managers. While these fluid subjectivities face opposition from the prevailing gender norms, which see men as the providers and women as the carers of the household, the paper depicts the multiple ways in which men and women conform to and negotiate with these norms and thus normalise their position. It offers fresh insights into the linkages between remittance practices and gender beyond essentialist claims of dependency, empowerment and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Framework Analysis (FA) and Applied Thematic Analysis (ATA) are qualitative methods that have not been as widely used/cited compared to content analysis or grounded theory. This paper compares methods of FA with ATA for mobile health (mHealth) research. The same qualitative data were analyzed separately using each methodology. The methods, utility, and results of each are compared, and recommendations made for their effective use. Methods: Formative qualitative data were collected in eight focus group discussions with physicians and nurses from three hospitals in Bangladesh. Focus groups were conducted via video conference in the local language, Bangla, and audio recorded. Audio recordings were used to complete a FA of participants' opinions about key features of novel mHealth application (app) designed to support clinical management in patients with acute diarrhea, called FluidCalc: Rehydration Calculator for Acute Diarrhea. The resulting framework analysis was shared with the app design team and used to guide iterative development of the product for a validation study of the app. Subsequently, focus group audio recordings were transcribed in Bangla then translated into English for ATA; transcripts and codes were entered into NVivo qualitative analysis software. Code summaries and thematic memos explored the clinical utility of FluidCalc including clinicians' attitudes about using this decision support tool. Results: Each of the two methods contributes differently to the research goal and have different implications for an mHealth research timeline. Recommendations for the effective use of each method in app development include: using FA for data reduction where specific outcomes are needed to make programming and design decisions and using ATA to capture the more nuanced issues that guide use, product implementation, training, and workflow. Conclusions: By describing how both analytical methods were used in this context, this paper provides guidance and an illustration for use of these two methods, specifically in mHealth design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Languages are at the centre of nationalistic discourses across South Asia since they have played a historically and politically significant role in defining nationhood and both uniting and dividing countries throughout the British Empire. Despite multilingualism and multiculturalism, and vast differences in individual access to, and command of, mother tongue, national and official languages, paradoxically a collective language is always considered as an important imagined marker of 'national' identity. It is this latter point I explore by drawing on ethnographic fieldwork amongst Bangladeshi youths from indigenous ethnic communities who are designated as ethnic minority groups in Bangladesh. Positioning the paper at the nexus of multilingual ecology, I thereby investigate how youths from the indigenous ethnic communities perceive themselves with reference to their mother tongue, national language, and foreign language, and what impact their relationships, their preferences, and use have on the maintenance and sustainability of their mother tongue in the multilingual ecology. A qualitative content analysis of the data demonstrates that it is only by taking the varying potential scopes of language into account that we can fully appreciate these complex Asian multilingual ecologies, where the mother tongues, indigenous ethnic languages, national languages, and English have specific historical, political, and sociocultural significances. The discursive claims of Bangladeshi ethnic youth participants indicate that the presence of the 'mother-tongue' and 'national language' in these contexts is ideologically infused, layered, value-laden, relational, and paradoxical at the microlevel – as these languages are practiced and nurtured by the linguistically minoritized subjects themselves. They negotiate their relationship with these languages, strictly keeping in consideration the existence of other languages and their social, cultural, economic significance in the multilingual ecology. It is via the paradoxical role of these languages in contexts that the paper aims to identify the socio-psychological reasons behind language loss in Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of international remittances on household food security, using robust food security measurement indices constructed from a cross-section sample of rural households in Bangladesh. A Two Stage Least Square Instrumental Variable Method (2SLS-IV) and Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) were used to regress food security measurement indicators with remittances and households socioeconomic and demographic variables. Results indicate that remittances influence food security conditions significantly and therefore represent a critical component of household food security. In general, remittances are positively correlated with household food-related consumption expenditures. The results also indicate that the presence of remittances reduces food-related uncertainties and provides a coping strategy for the household to counterbalance food-related shocks and improves the quality of diet in remittance-receiving households. Overall, it seems that emigration of a household member and consequent remittance flows increase the probability of a household being food secure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internal migration presents many challenges for governmental coordination due to the extensive and immediate action required to address this problem. However, it also poses opportunities regarding education, employment and living conditions, if the government creates pull factors to distribute migration away from primary to secondary cities. This process will require a rights-based approach, whereby the rights of internal migrants are mainstreamed in government planning to enable sustainable migration to Bangladesh's secondary cities. In this paper, the current international human rights and internal migration laws will be analysed, alongside the domestic laws and policies relevant to internal migration in Bangladesh. In doing so, this paper will explore how government policy and action can employ a rights-based approach to incorporate internal migration within the government's overarching development framework. A rights-based approach is necessary to effectively prepare for, and adapt to, the increase in internal migration in an equitable way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumer behavior and the way businesses conduct their operations have changed due to the widespread usage of internet purchasing worldwide. Bangladesh's reliance on online shopping presents both opportunities and difficulties. The relatively large marketplace is driving up demand for online shopping. On the contrary, the need for greater technological proficiency that underpins online purchasing presents a significant challenge for entrepreneurs, managers, and consumers. This paper employed TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) to explore and predict Bangladeshi customers' online purchasing intentions. The data were collected from 322 online consumers in Dhaka and analyzed with SEM utilizing SMART PLS 3. The data analysis demonstrates a significant association between consumers' buying intention and Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PEU), Perceived Enjoyment (PE), and Subjective Norms (SN). On the contrary, the data portrayed Perceived Risk (PR) as insignificant. However, our findings suggest that the TAM can still be used to explain the change in behavior associated with using a marketplace, particularly when buying online products or services. In addition, to give a more profound knowledge, various user characteristics according to generation group still need to be studied. Findings further suggest that this study has academic and industry ramifications regarding anticipating consumers' online purchasing choices in the digital marketing community. The study concludes with a discussion of its limitations and future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rohingya is one of the ethnic minority groups that has faced profound ethnic violence against them in their home country, Myanmar. Almost a million Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh and are currently living in extremely precarious conditions near the Myanmar–Bangladesh border. Despite the sufferings and oppressions of all Rohingya, women, in particular, have been victims of sexual violence. Using various information sources, this paper analyzes different dimensions of the gender-based violence that has endured in Myanmar for decades. This paper also highlights the health and wellness of Rohingya women, including impacts made during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, it provides a framework for reducing gender-based violence in the Rohingya camps in Bangladesh. Even though this paper focuses on the Rohingya crisis, insights are relevant to other contexts facing similar social, political, and humanitarian crises, particularly in the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As Kailemia observes, "environmental crimes are an area of increasing concern, not only because of [their] globalized nature" but because these crimes have "impacts beyond the capacity of criminal justice systems of most states to comprehend or address." How then can criminal justice agencies, particularly in the global south, respond to national and transnational environmental challenges? This paper takes the case of Bangladesh and outlines examples of anthropogenic activities that are destroying biodiversity and polluting the environment in this country. It then situates these crimes and harms in the context of environmental law, and the work of police and environment agencies, in Bangladesh. The paper concludes with a consideration of future options for environmental law enforcement in Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In 2020, the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care redefined palliative care to incorporate the concept of serious health-related suffering. An estimated 21 million children globally live with conditions which would benefit from a palliative approach to relieve suffering. Bangladesh is a lower-middle income country with isolated provision of palliative care. Aim: To synthesise existing evidence describing serious health-related suffering of children with disability and their families living in Bangladesh and the intersection between this suffering, palliative care and rehabilitation. Design: Scoping review methodology. Data sources: A search strategy related to serious health-related suffering and childhood disability was applied to online databases and grey literature. English language studies (1990–2021) were included. Papers pertaining to serious health-related suffering of typically developing children and those over eighteen years were excluded. Data which addressed the three domains of serious health-related suffering (physical, social and emotional/spiritual) were extracted. Palliative care interventions were assessed with a pre-existing checklist. Results: Forty-six studies were included, representing ten different methodologies. Sample sizes ranged from 11 to 2582 participants, with 87% of studies including children with cerebral palsy. Serious health-related suffering was described in 100% of the studies, only 14 of the studies described specific interventions to mitigate suffering. Convergence between palliative care and rehabilitation approaches was evident. Conclusion: Findings document the extensive nature and burden of serious childhood health-related suffering that may be remediated by a palliative approach. They highlight the urgent need to prioritise service development and research in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumer behavior and the way businesses conduct their operations have changed due to the widespread usage of internet purchasing worldwide. Bangladesh's reliance on online shopping presents both opportunities and difficulties. The relatively large marketplace is driving up demand for online shopping. On the contrary, the need for greater technological proficiency that underpins online purchasing presents a significant challenge for entrepreneurs, managers, and consumers. This paper employed TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) to explore and predict Bangladeshi customers' online purchasing intentions. The data were collected from 322 online consumers in Dhaka and analyzed with SEM utilizing SMART PLS 3. The data analysis demonstrates a significant association between consumers' buying intention and Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PEU), Perceived Enjoyment (PE), and Subjective Norms (SN). On the contrary, the data portrayed Perceived Risk (PR) as insignificant. However, our findings suggest that the TAM can still be used to explain the change in behavior associated with using a marketplace, particularly when buying online products or services. In addition, to give a more profound knowledge, various user characteristics according to generation group still need to be studied. Findings further suggest that this study has academic and industry ramifications regarding anticipating consumers' online purchasing choices in the digital marketing community. The study concludes with a discussion of its limitations and future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a collaborative autoethnography (CAE) by three international PhD students from Bangladesh, Japan and Nepal who pursued (or who are currently pursuing) their studies in New Zealand. In contrast to previous research which largely advanced a simplistic, downward social mobility experience of international PhD students or highly skilled migrants in general, we argue that this experience is dynamic, complex and multidimensional in nature. In doing so, we turn to Bourdieu's theory of capital. By focusing on less-direct economic resources (e.g. ethnicity, nationality, language and social networks), we explore the multidimensionality and convolution of our social mobility which stems from migration. Setting aside a narrative of adversity and downward social mobility among international PhD students, this paper emphasizes how we actively negotiated and dealt with shifting class identity and social mobility in the host countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the close interaction between environmental hazards and non-environmental factors inducing people to leave their areas of origin, augmented by the struggles they face and their urban survival strategies. Focusing on Aila-induced migrants in a slum in Khulna city, the study questions the conventional notion that environmental hazards singularly propel coastal inhabitants' migration. Instead, it asserts that migration results from a convergence of multi-causal factors, notably, the interplay between environmental hazards, socio-political and economic vulnerabilities, and proximity to ecologically fragile regions. Initially driven by subsistence needs, migration has transformed into something greater for many marginalized individuals. These migrants develop strong bonds with specific locations and location-specific networks, which facilitate their transition to urban life and allow them to mitigate the challenges associated with urban living. This study sheds light on the nuanced dynamics of climate-induced migration, emphasizing the necessity for comprehensive policy responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the impact of international remittances on household spending behaviour in the Bangladesh context. The total household spending has been classified into seven categories, namely education, health, food, consumed and durable goods, housing and land, investment and 'other consumption'. For addressing the self-selection bias, we applied the propensity score matching technique. Moreover, to analyse the impact of remittances on the marginal spending behaviour we applied the Working-Leser (WL) model. Findings from the study reveal that remittances have positive and significant impact on the amount spent on almost all the spending categories except education, and investment. In terms of budgetary shares of different spending categories, households receiving remittances spend a lower fraction of their total spending on food and investment. Although the impact of remittances is positive and significant for the budget shares of health, housing and land, it is found to be insignificant for education and consumed and durables goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the impact of international migration on household welfare in Bangladesh based on the household income and expenditure survey 2010. An asset index was constructed to measure the long-run welfare impact of migration using principal component analysis. The findings of the study indicate that the households with a migrant member have a significantly higher asset score compared to the non-migrant. The migrant households also have a lower expenditure share on food and a higher calorie intake per capita suggesting they are less poor compared to non-migrants. Besides, the study found robust evidence that the families having a migrant in a lucrative destination are well-off than those with a migrant in a less desirable destination. The overall findings suggest that the welfare of the households not only depends on the households' migration status but also their destination choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beyond the physical transmission of COVID-19, the pandemic has had far-reaching consequences in Bangladesh, including social and cultural implications. This review paper aimed at identifying and synthesizing the costs of COVID-19 on sociocultural issues in Bangladesh. For this purpose, we conducted a systematic search in MEDLINE, PubMed, ProQuest, Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar up to August 2021. Studies related to the costs of COVID-19 were identified, tabulated, analyzed, and synthesized by using a thematic approach. Our final synthesis of 19 studies resulted in five analytical themes: (i) disruption in education, (ii) loss of everyday social interaction, (iii) increase of "new poor" and suicide, (iv) rise of violence against women, and (v) worsening the life of refugees. Our findings showed that the costs of disruption in education, loss of everyday social interaction, and increase of "new poor" and suicide were more evident. Finally, we recommend the government and the community to adopt some integrated actions and policies to combat the problems in improving Bangladeshi sociocultural situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applied mixed methods research for sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues involves multiple researchers and presents numerous responsibilities as well as unforeseen challenges. These challenges together with the often ignored and under-researched area of male sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in Bangladesh require researchers to navigate cultural stigmas associated with SRH and hostile political situations across the country. We conducted a nationwide mixed methods research study to explore the SRHR of male youth. This study is the first of its kind in the context of Bangladesh. The aim of this paper is to describe the challenges experienced and mitigation strategies undertaken to conduct research on the SRHR of young males in Bangladesh. A group of experts, practitioners, service delivery staff and researchers were consulted during the tool development stage. However, challenges in obtaining permission from community members, explanation of SRH-specific topics, and establishing respondents' trust persisted throughout the study. Mitigation strategies included spending time outside of scheduled interview hours and making repeated visits to respondents to establish trust. These strategies allowed for honest discussions over time and served to assure our study respondents that the confidentiality of their data would be protected. In addition to sourcing letters from official authorities, we had conversations with community influential people such as religious leaders and political representatives about the nature of our study and explained to them the implications of the study for the future of young men's health. Moreover, we highlight the political issues of the time and shed light on the ad hoc measures taken to overcome the challenges we faced. These reflections can provide valuable insights for researchers conducting SRHR-related studies in similar social and political settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This case-control study investigated the association between SARS-CoV-2 infection and musculoskeletal health complaints (MHC). The specific aims of the study were (1) to compare the 1-month prevalence of MHC among post-acute COVID-19 patients and participants who never tested positive for COVID-19 matched by the former group's age and gender; (2) to identify the predictors of MHC among all participants, and (3) define the factors independently associated with MHC in post-acute COVID-19 patients. Methods and Analysis: The study was conducted in Bangladesh from February 24 to April 7, 2022. The face-to-face interview was taken using a paper-based semi-structured questionnaire. MHC was measured using the musculoskeletal subscale of subjective health complaints produced by Eriksen et al. Descriptive analysis was conducted to compute MHC prevalence and compare them across groups. Multiple logistic analyses were employed to identify MHC predictors for the participants. Results: The prevalence of MHC was 38.7%. Adjusted analysis suggested that the SARS-CoV-2 infection was independently associated with MHC (AOR = 3.248,95% CI = 2.307-4.571). Furthermore, unemployment (AOR = 4.156, 95% CI = 1.308-13.208), moderate illness (AOR = 2.947,95% CI = 1.216-7.144), treatment in hospitals' general word (AOR = 4.388,95% CI = 1.878-10.254) and health complaints after COVID-19 (AOR = 4.796,95% CI = 2.196-10.472) were found to be the predictors of MHC among post-acute COVID-19 patients. Conclusion: Our study found a robust association between SARS-CoV-2 infection and MHC and recommends that healthcare authorities be prepared to deal with the high burden of MHC among post-acute COVID-19 patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attacks perpetrated using acid are a particular form of interpersonal violence, possibly one of the most heinous manifestations of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Acid attacks are mainly motivated by extramarital cheating, marital conflicts, women's rejection of marriage proposals, and sexual advances. As these attacks are not well understood from a psychological perspective, we conducted a systematic review, following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, of 284 articles identified, 13 were eligible for inclusion. Three main focuses were identified: "Risk and vulnerability factors," "Consequences and implications," and "Interventions and treatments." Acid attacks seem to be more frequent in countries where social and economic development leads to greater tensions over traditional gender roles like Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India. Identified risk factors were young age, low socioeconomic status, low educational attainment, ethnicity, unemployment status of the victim, alcohol, and drug use of the perpetrator. Among the main psychosocial consequences of acid attacks, isolation and social exclusion emerged. Additionally, the paper will discuss the role of mental health consequences and specific treatments from psychological, clinical, and medical-legal points of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the relationships between conflict, climate change, and disaster in forced displacement contexts. We present these nexus dynamics through the case of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh who are exposed to climatic hazards and other vulnerabilities that threaten their lives and livelihoods. Having fled persecution by the Myanmar military, Rohingya refugees face a range of conflict- and climate-related risks, both in the overcrowded and disaster-prone camps in Cox's Bazar and on the island of Bhasan Char where Bangladeshi authorities have relocated tens of thousands of people. The protracted refugee crisis has exacerbated social tensions between the Rohingya and host communities; limited access to resources and exposure to significant hazards that exacerbate conflict-induced displacement challenges. This paper contributes to the nascent literature on the region's conflict, climate change, and disaster displacement nexus by examining how cascading risks and state fragility contribute to increased instability. The article demonstrates the need for a more nuanced understanding of how conflict-induced displacement leads to new threats and vulnerabilities in hazard-prone environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies have highlighted the Rohingya refugees as a threat to the national security of Bangladesh, but very few studies have analyzed the process of securitization of the Rohingyas in the country. This paper examines the process of securitization by applying securitization theory and makes two key arguments. First, contrary to the studies which presented the securitization of Rohingyas in Bangladesh as a recent phenomenon, we argue that the securitization process began in the 1990s and widely expanded in the 2010s. Second, the securitization of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh has been done by employing both discursive (speech acts) and non-discursive securitizing practices. A qualitative investigation of official statements, policies, and available scholarly insights helps make sense of these arguments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the impacts of Bangladesh's Union Digital Centers (UDCs) as government information and service delivery hubs in rural areas. Drawing on user-surveys and semi-structured individual interviews it demonstrates that the UDCs have produced generally positive yet modest impacts on governance of service delivery. It shows that the UDCs are at an early stage of development, and that they offer only a limited set of services. While they helped extend ICT-enabled services to sections of population that would otherwise have missed them, the UDCs do not have much to do with rural livelihoods and empowerment of the poor and marginalized groups. These findings point to current inadequacies and pitfalls of the UDC approach to development. We argue that enhanced viability and effectiveness of the UDC experiment would warrant embedding more value-added governmental services and further strengthening of their capacity, mandate, and connectivity with government agencies at various levels, among others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Challenges from Islamist militants have been an integral part of Bangladesh's political landscape since the 1980s. Islamist militancy has passed through different phases of silent and active forms, drawing inspiration from conflicts in Libya, Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. A vast literature has dealt with Islamist militancy in Bangladesh, but very few works have shed light on who the Bangladeshi Islamist militants are and how they radicalize youths, whom they target for their secret mission of killings, and finally why youths choose to be radicalized, especially with the arrival of Islamic State and Al Qaeda in Bangladesh in 2013. The author conducted nearly 50 in-depth interviews with experts in Bangladesh and reviewed newspaper reports to answer these questions. This paper argues that middle-class youths with urban and secular backgrounds are increasingly being radicalized through cyber space, and diverse groups of people are targeted to carry out killings owing to their perceived ideological divergence. The idea of an apocalyptic Caliphate, a feeling of victimization, a disillusionment with the state and society, and personal distresses are all found to act as catalysts for Islamist radicalization in Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is devoted to exploring the linkages between livelihood assets, healthcare facilities and health well-being in Indo-Bangladesh international border adjacent location. To establish the linkages, Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA) has been adopted here. The study assumes that adjacency to the international border makes the location vulnerable. The study evaluates that lesser access to healthcare facilities in Border Adjacent Zone (BAZ) makes the people unable to cope with their poor health conditions. Even the livelihood asset is not at a satisfactory level by which the worse condition are to be overcome. Better health conditions and greater access to healthcare facilities make the households in Border Distant Zone (BDZ) enjoy sustainable health well-being that too with higher scores of livelihood assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociodrama and psychodrama have shown promising behavioral and attitudinal changes among men who adhere to toxic masculine attitudes and behavior. However, it is unknown whether such an approach could potentially curb the rising gender-based violence in Bangladesh. This paper presents the findings of in-depth interviews with 12 out of the 40 men in an urban slum in Dhaka who received culturally contextualized sociodrama and psychodrama interventions and 20 close female family members. Following the intervention, the narratives revealed positive behavioral and attitudinal changes in men, including developing empathy, respect towards family members and co-workers, temper management, participation in household chores, a favorable attitude towards condom use, and reduced sexual harassment and drug abuse. The findings can be used in future research and interventions to address and reduce gender-based violence against women by men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact people globally, refugees comprise a vulnerable population, particularly those living in densely populated areas. In Bangladesh, Cox's Bazar is currently home to almost a million Rohingya refugees. Because of the lack of healthcare, sanitation and water, as well as overcrowding, refugees were at high risk of becoming ill during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Moreover, superstitions and lack of trust in the healthcare system threaten to put the community at further risk. To prevent tragic consequences, national and international attention and action are required to strengthen the health system for Rohingya refugees. The community will require surveillance and testing, infection prevention and control measures, adequate food supplies, and access to improved healthcare services. This paper calls for a multi-sectoral approach to developing an action plan and implementation strategy to minimize the impact of COVID-19 on this vulnerable population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article builds on the correspondence of the prime minister of Pakistan with five political figures from East Bengal who flourished between 1947 and 1951. These were Khwaja Nazimuddin and his brother Shahabuddin, Fazlur Rahman, Nurul Amin and Jogendranath Mandal. Their exchanges with Prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan—at the head of the central government in Karachi—provide a portentous pre-history of the future engagements between the two wings and their states and societies in the lead-up to the birth of Bangladesh in 1971. The fragments of these exchanges presented here are an attempt to provide a glimpse into Bengali politicians' manifold activities in Pakistan, which revolved around the minority and refugee question, religious orientation of education, non-devaluation and its impact on trade, a range of administrative issues and party politics. Drawing upon their letters in the Liaquat Ali Khan papers, this article deploys these five themes as entry-points into East–West exchanges before and beneath the conventional coordinates of linguistic provincialism (1948–52), economic instigation (1954–66) and democratic desires (1966–71). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study determines influential factors that account for mobile payment service adoption in a developing country and assesses the mediating effect of word of mouth on this platform. Our model combines multi-dimensions of trust and risk, and word of mouth to predict the target population's use intention and use behavior. We use the structural equation modeling method to analyze the data collected by an online survey of 392 respondents who use mobile payment services in Bangladesh. This study's results reveal that trust in service providers, trust in service, privacy risk, and security risk have significant impacts on the intention to use. The findings also indicate that word of mouth mediates the direct impacts of trust in service providers, trust in apps, and security risk on the intention to use. In addition, importance-performance map analysis depicts that word of mouth is the most critical performing factor, but performance is comparatively low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thousands of ready-made garment (RMG) workers, frequently seen as Bangladesh's lifeline for economic growth and poverty alleviation, were sacked arbitrarily just weeks after the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. The widespread cancellation of existing orders, followed by factory closures and worker layoffs, triggered an unprecedented crisis for RMG workers, the vast majority of whom are women. As the industry is slowly recovering from the initial upheaval and on its way to rebound, this article revisits the impacts of the pandemic on the RMG workers in Bangladesh, who predominantly hails from impoverished rural regions of the country. Using first-hand data and secondary literature, this article offers a compelling account of the pandemic outbreak's disproportionate impact on female RMG workers. As we examine the effects on workers, we also look back at the structural hierarchies and power asymmetries embedded in this sector—a quintessential feature of the contemporary global economy. The article offers three distinct contributions to the emerging literature on the Covid-19 pandemic and its impacts on the changing labor spectrum in the global South. First, it explores the pandemic's broader gendered implications, revealing how it unevenly affected women. Second, it underlines how the pre-existing power dynamic within the global supply chain further exacerbated inequality, marginalization, and workers' precarity in Bangladesh's RMG industry. Lastly, it underscores the unequal interdependence between "core" and "peripheral" countries in the global production and labor landscape, highlighting the asymmetrical nature of their relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of trust on the CSR and brand-equity nexus in the banking sector of Bangladesh. Using the convenient sampling method and structured questionnaire, the study conducted an online survey of 275 customers of private commercial banks from Bangladesh. This study applied structural equation modelling (SEM) to define the complete structural model to analyse the direct and indirect relationships between study constructs. The results reveal a positive and significant impact of CSR on brand equity. Regarding the mediating effect of trust, the study found a significant impact of trust on the CSR components and the brand-equity nexus. The study's outcomes enrich the existing literature as a dimension of trust is added as mediating effect on the CSR and brand equity relationship in Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socially ascribed gender norms are a significant barrier for women of the fishing communities in coastal Bangladesh. These norms limit women's income autonomy, access to productive resources, decision making capacity and mobility, which negatively affects their economic empowerment and overall well-being. The article delves into the topic of women's empowerment in these communities. The study employed a mixed method approach to collect data from ECOFISH II project intervention villages. Pro-WEFI, which is a modified and refined version of the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) was utilized for fishing community to determine women's empowerment and disempowerment status across three domains of empowerment (3DE): intrinsic, instrumental, and collective agency. The findings revealed that men experienced fewer inadequacies than women, with a weighted average 3DE score of 0.75 for men and 0.57 for women, and only 14% of women and 37% of men were found to be empowered. The Gender Parity Index (GPI) score was 0.79 and households with gender parity made up 31% of the total. This study developed a comprehensive set of Pro-WEFI indicators applicable for assessing and comparing women's empowerment across cultures in fisheries-related projects. Utilizing the disaggregated scores of each Pro-WEFI indicator, it is possible to identify areas of disempowerment for both genders and prioritize project interventions accordingly. Furthermore, employing the Pro-WEFI tool in a longitudinal panel design can capture the changes in women's empowerment over time in any fisheries project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite knowledge of neonatal and postneonatal mortality determinants in Bangladesh, some families continue to lose a larger share of children, a phenomenon known as early-life mortality clustering. This study uses the random intercept Weibull survival regression model to explore the correlation of mortality risk among siblings at the family (or, mother) and community levels. Utilizing the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2017–2018, we found evidence of death scarring, where children whose previous sibling was not alive at the time of conception had significantly higher odds of neonatal mortality. Moreover, the neonatal (and postneonatal) mortality hazard was highest for children with a birth interval of fewer than 19 months, corresponding to the preceding sibling. The intraclass correlation coefficient's statistically significant values show that neonatal and postneonatal mortality risk is correlated among children of the same family and community. The findings suggest focusing on high-risk families and communities to reduce the mortality level effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural women in Bangladesh usually have lack of access, control and ownership over their land property because of existing patriarchal norms of the rural society. The prime objective of this study was to assess the impact of rural women's access to land on their income as well as household income. A multistage, geographically clustered, probability-based sampling approach was adopted for this study. Primary data were collected from the rural women living in two selected districts of Bangladesh. The Propensity Score Matching technique was used to assess the impact of land accessibility on household income and rural women's income. The Binary Logistic Regression technique was used to assess women's opinions. The study findings revealed that land had a positive impact on household income but rural women's income did not increase significantly despite having access to land. This study also showed that income, level of education, the existence of NGO operated programs in villages, and the number of visits to NGO offices by rural women were the key factors contributing to improving their overall well-being. Findings imply that the government should design an appropriate land ownership policy that guarantees titling as well as access for women to land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to a proverb often referring to the misery that prevails in restricted if enlightened surroundings, "It is dark under the lamp." Urban areas have emerged as centers of excellence as far as economic development is concerned. People coming from diverse cultural, professional, and economic backgrounds live in cities. Gaps their economic conditions have led to various clusters of people much different from their rural counterparts. Comparing between urban and rural areas, studies often argued that urban education is exceptionally better. Adopting "descriptive analysis" of both secondary and primary data, this study notes that students living in urban slums suffer in terms of three parameters (access, attendance, and academic performance) of K-8 education. Government-run education neglects students living in the slums and this enabled NGOs to step in. Students living in tin-sheds receive education mainly through the government's initiatives, while those living in flats attend private, international, and elite-public schools. Students who live in tin-sheds cannot compete with those who live in flats, let alone the slums. The Covid-19 pandemic has further aggravated this crisis. Substantial policy intervention by the government may be the only viable way to ensure developing nations' K-8 urban education is safe from criticism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the abundance of literature, longitudinal studies evaluating the factors associated with domestic violence (DV) at different stages and over longer periods of women's lives are rare. We evaluated factors associated with physical and sexual DV during pregnancy, at 10-year, and 18-year follow-ups after pregnancy and within a 19-year period of life using a cohort of women (n = 1,126) who participated in the Maternal and Infant Nutrition Interventions, Matlab trial in rural Bangladesh. Data on women's experience of DV, social and economic characteristics, empowerment, and family condition were recorded in a similar manner during pregnancy and at 10- and 18-year follow-ups, using standard questionnaires. Multivariate logistic regression models and generalized estimating equations were used to evaluate factors associated with women's experience of physical and sexual violence at each discrete time point and over a period of 19 years, respectively. During pregnancy, women were more likely to experience violence if they were members of microcredit programs/non-governmental organizations (NGOs), living in an extended family and had lower wealth status. At the 10- and 18-year follow-ups, higher levels of decision-making and higher wealth status were protective against the experience of violence. At the 18-year follow-up, women with larger age differences from their husbands were less likely to experience violence, while membership in microcredit programs/NGOs was associated with higher odds of experiencing violence among women. Within a period of 19 years, a higher level of education, living in an extended family, higher decision-making level and higher wealth index were protective against the experience of violence, while membership in microcredit programs/NGOs was a risk factor. In conclusion, this study showed that correlates of violence might change at different time points in women's life. Thus, policies and programs should consider the stage of women's lives while planning interventions for addressing violence against women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts worldwide have sought to lessen the agricultural and societal impact of the fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (JE Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) mitigation in Kenya, Nepal, and Bangladesh by safeguarding affected regions' food crops and livelihoods while preventing the spread of FAW to nearby areas. However, efforts to communicate and gain support for FAW control methods among local populations can have limited impacts. This study qualitatively explores "design looping" as part of three Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) campaigns in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Kenya for increasing community support for FAW mitigation. Such an approach not only potentially extends the reach and scalability of FAW control methods but also contributes to meeting Sustainable Development Goals for food security and community well-being. Findings of productive advantages for "design looping" in this study include (1) increased participatory access by project stakeholders and beneficiaries, (2) flexibility, as cost-effective and potentially continuous opportunities to refine ICT4D messaging to meet project goals, and (3) bi-directional learning between project producers and message recipients for improved message deployment. Limitations and directions for future research are also discussed. Plain Language Summary: Using adaptive methods to design insect pest mitigation information Getting local people to participate in protecting food crops and livelihoods by stopping the spread of crop pests like fall armyworm (FAW) presents challenges. This study looks at how "design looping" was used in three information campaigns in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Kenya aimed at enabling more community support for fighting FAW using Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D). This design method can increase the range and effectiveness of FAW control and strengthen food security and community well-being. Results of the study found that "design looping" had several benefits: (1) it allowed more people to be involved in the design process, (2) it was highly cost-effective and allowed for adjustments and adaptation of the messaging to different contexts, and (3) it fostered better learning and message sharing between the message creators and those receiving the messages. Limitations and suggestions for future research are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable Development Goal 3 focuses on reducing HIV/AIDS spread, for which disseminating correct information on the disease is required. This study investigated factors associated with HIV/AIDS knowledge among women in several Asian LMICs. Global Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey-6 (MICS-6) for Bangladesh, Lao, Mongolia and Nepal were assessed. Bivariate analysis and generalised linear regression models were fitted. Overall, 60% of the respondents were aware or heard of the existence of HIV/AIDS, with 63.2% having transmission knowledge and 80.4% misconception knowledge. Results revealed that several demographic factors such as wealth index, education and access to information had a significant association with HIV/AIDS knowledge. Mongolia and Nepal have formal programmes in place that may provide policy and implementation advantages compared to Bangladesh and Lao. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I examine the assumptions underlying the idea of women as vulnerable and at risk, and how this understanding contributes to shaping practices of climate change adaptation. The article is based on ethnographic fieldwork in the expert community in Dhaka and in a climate change adaptation field site in coastal Bangladesh. Following Ananya Roy's work, I understand coastal Bangladesh to be a riskscape, a geographical space suffused with imaginations of anticipated risks that must be managed through disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Roy further argues that riskscapes create new subjects of risk, and that such subjects are highly gendered because development has tended to focus on poor women 'in very specific ways'. In this article, I build on Roy's insights to explore how women are constructed as 'subjects of risk' in climate change adaptation. I also show how climate change adaptation, in becoming the new buzzword for development, continues to focus on poor women in very specific ways, which are applied to fit with the climate change 'metacode'. While well-intended, the understanding of women as subjects of risk is imbued with ambivalence, because it may contribute to supporting structures that make women vulnerable by normalizing relations of risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 epidemic has hastened the growth of Virtual Communities and is affecting virtually every part of work in the public and business sectors. Virtual communities, popular forums for communication and entertainment, increasingly affected the users' decisions. Though many technology adoption models/theories are available, a distinctive model for decision-making in a virtual environment is scarce. This research developed the virtual communities' decision model and empirically tested its performance. This study examined 16 well-established theories/models of information technology, social science, marketing, and behavioral finance and extracted nine constructs from 58 identified constructs considering theoretical cohesiveness along with the three-stage method proposed by Moore and Benbasat. A unified model for virtual communities' decisions (VCDM) is developed and validated using the data collected from individual capital market investors in Bangladesh. The structural equation modeling technique is used to analyze the data. The upshot implies that VCDM performs adequately and explains the maximum variances in intention to decision and investment. VCDM also outperforms the majority of the related theoretical models. The acceptance levels of fit indices and all significant relationships among different constructs are also empirically validated. The moderating effect of the virtual group use experience is also confirmed. Future research can use VCDM in marketing, behavioral finance, ecommerce, information systems and social science context. VCDM thus facilitates a beneficial tool for managers, service providers, and other users to assess the likelihood of effectiveness for decisions in a virtual environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates how COVID-19 has affected experiences of people with disabilities in low- and middle-income contexts. A qualitative approach was used to collect data as the pandemic progressed from 75 participants in Nigeria, Bangladesh, Nepal, Kenya, and Uganda. The research aimed to be inclusive of people with disabilities by asking the participants directly about their perspectives with a narrative interview method being employed to gain each person's unique insights. A participatory thematic analysis of the data, followed by a spatial analysis process, produced rich and highly individualized accounts of the spatiocultural experiences relating to how people with disabilities had occupied both private and public space during the pandemic. Differing factors, such as the dominant culture, gender, a person's impairments, and the social environment, are shown to shape people's experiences. Across cultures, COVID-19 is shown to have presented new challenges for people with disabilities while preexisting disadvantages have been exacerbated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the mango diplomacy of South Asia's mango exporting countries. Diplomatic gifts are a common feature of public diplomacy of diplomatic missions globally. There are many prominent examples of that including China's panda diplomacy and mango diplomacy of South Asia's mango exporting countries like Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Based on the analysis, this study argues that Pakistan is a dominant actor in terms of mango diplomacy and has an extensive strategy, for example, including mango exhibitions, to increase its mango exports and goodwill in target countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bangladesh is an environmentally vulnerable country, where environmental crimes are massive and common. However, the environmental crime prevention mechanism in the country is very weak, and traditional policing is utilized to stop these crimes. Therefore, the green criminological approach to prevent environmental crimes in Bangladesh is underdeveloped in many ways, with a total absence of the green policing model. Hence, this study focuses on attaining a critical understanding of environmental crimes in Bangladesh by exploring the key underlying factors of environmental crimes. It also attempts to contribute to the environmental crime prevention mechanism by recommending a green policing model, while identifying the key weaknesses of the existing environmental crime prevention approach. This article implements the qualitative technique of data collection, and the analysis is based on an in-depth interview of 25 respondents, belonging to different categories of stakeholders, and participant observation. It also analyses the content of newspapers to understand the patterns of environmental crimes in Bangladesh. This article finds that environmental crimes are propagated by several political, economic, institutional, and social elements, such as the political affiliation of criminals, economic profit from natural resources, absence of institutional collaboration, and lack of social consciousness. The issue has become further aggravated due to the weakness of the crime prevention mechanism. Thus, the findings of this study suggest that environmental crimes in Bangladesh should be considered and understood from green criminological perspectives and the development of a green policing model would be effective in reducing environmental crimes in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]