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ObjectivesTo assess healthcare workers’ (HCWs) compliance with the infection prevention and control (IPC) practices and identify the factors influencing this compliance using the Health Belief Model as the theoretical framework.DesignQuantitative data from an explanatory sequential mixed-methods study were employed in this research.Participants and settingsFrom 17 May to 30 August 2020, 604 physicians and nurses working at six randomly selected tertiary care facilities in Dhaka City in Bangladesh took part in this study.Primary and secondary outcome measuresCompliance with the WHO’s guidance on IPC measures, as well as the associated factors, was the primary outcome.ResultsA mean compliance score of 0.49 (±0.25) was observed on a 0–1 scale. HCWs were most compliant with the medical mask wearing guidelines (81%) and were least compliant with the high-touch surface decontamination regulations (23%). Compliance with the IPC guidance was significantly associated with increasing age, female sex, working as a nurse, having non-communicable diseases and history of exposure to patients with COVID-19. Perceived benefits (B=0.039, 95% CI 0.001 to 0.076), self-efficacy (B=0.101, 95% CI 0.060 to 0.142) and cues to action (B=0.045, 95% CI 0.002 to 0.088) were positively associated with compliance. Compliance with IPC guidance was 0.061 times greater among participants who reported low perceived barriers compared with those with high perceived barriers.ConclusionOverall, compliance with IPC guidance among HCWs was unsatisfactory. As self-efficacy exerted the greatest contribution to compliance, it should be emphasised in any endeavour to improve HCWs’ IPC adherence. Such interventions should also focus on perceived barriers, including unreliability of the information sources, unsafe working places and unavailability of protective equipment and cues to action, including trust in the administration and availability of adequate IPC guidance.

Since child sexual abuse (CSA) is one of the most serious public health issues, how CSA cases and victims are portrayed in the daily newspapers is a major concern to the public health and communication specialists. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree of the ethical standard of reporting CSA in Bangladeshi newspapers, as well as to identify the potential risk factors associated with unethical reporting. From January to December 2017, a total of 1093 news stories on CSA were collected from four top circulated Bengali newspapers and two English newspapers of Bangladesh. Berelson’s quantitative content analysis approach (only manifest content) was used to analyze these stories. For the coding and analysis purpose, news items (texts and news with photos) of spot news, editorials, and commentaries were included. Chi-square tests were used to evaluate the bivariate association of different case characteristics with unethical reporting, and multivariate logistic regression models were performed to assess the potential risk factors of disclosing the victim’s identity and needless detail in the news description. This study revealed that more than 40% of news stories on CSA cases did not follow the ethical standard of reporting. Episodic CSA cases were more unethically reported in newspapers, compared to the thematic stories (42.8% vs. 11.6%). Approximately 37% of news stories disclosed at least one identifying information of victims (i.e., name, parents’ name, family member’s name, or school name), and 23% of stories included sensual and/or excessive description of the event. Our adjusted model showed that victim identifiers were most likely to be reported in news stories when the victim was 13–17 years old (AOR 1.86; P = 0.027), the alleged perpetrator held influential social status (AOR 2.44, P = 0.005), the victim was familiar to the perpetrator (AOR 6.85, P P

Background: Any public health emergency demands adequate risk communication with the vulnerable population along with their optimized perception about the impending risk to ensure proper risk management and crisis control. Hence, this study will be conducted to explore healthcare providers’ perceptions regarding risks of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), as well as how they are being communicated to about the risk, and how they practice risk reduction measures. Methods: A two-phased explanatory sequential mixed-method study will be conducted among physicians and nurses from randomly selected tertiary healthcare facilities in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. In the first phase, the general pattern and quantifiable measures of risk perception, risk communication, and infection prevention practices will be assessed quantitatively. Multiple linear regression analyses will be performed to explore how much variability of risk perception is predicted by risk communication methods and contents. In the second phase, qualitative data will be collected for in-depth understanding and exploration of participants’ experiences and insights regarding COVID-19 risk through interviews and document reviews. Thematic content analysis of the qualitative data will be done manually. Findings from both quantitative and qualitative phases will then be triangulated to illustrate the research objectives. Discussion: Based on the psychometric dimensions of risk perception and psycho-social theory of the health belief model, perception of COVID-19 risk among healthcare providers will be evaluated in this study. The relationship between risk perception and infection prevention and control practices among healthcare providers will also be investigated. The explanatory sequential design of this study is expected to generate hypotheses on how risk perception is being shaped in a time of uncertainty and thus, will help to build a proper risk communication strategy to minimize risk perception among healthcare providers.

Household air pollution (HAP) is a global public health problem and less well-studied in developing countries. The overall goal of Bangladesh Hub is to conduct a population-based study (n=600) ...

Although child physical abuse is considered a major public health and social problem in Bangladesh, few studies have assessed the prevalence of multiple forms of child physical abuse. This population-based study estimated the prevalence of child physical abuse by adult in rural Bangladesh and examined its association with demographic and socio-contextual factors of the children. Data were mainly obtained by administering ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool for Children (ICAST-C) from a random sample of 1416 children (49% female) aged 11 to 17 years by face-to-face interview during March -April in 2017 with a response rate of 91.5%. Physical abuse was categorized into ‘frequent (≥3 occurrences past year)’ and ‘less frequent to none’ and risk factors for the frequent category were estimated. Prevalence of at least one form, two forms and three or more forms of child physical abuse were estimated approximately 99%, 95% and 83% in their lifetime and 93%, 79% and 57% in the past year respectively. Hitting (without buttock), standing/kneeling and slapping were the most common physical abuse whereas giving drugs/alcohol, pinched, burned/scalded, beat-up and locked-up reported minimum. Male children, younger age groups, witness of domestic violence with weapons, bullied by siblings and low maternal education were found significant risk factors for at least one form of ‘frequent’ physical violence, whereas male children, younger age groups, adult shouted in a frightening way, witnessed adults using weapons at home, bullied by siblings, low maternal education were found as significant risk factors for ≥2 forms of frequent child physical abuse. Self-reported prevalence of child physical abuse was extremely common in Bangladeshi rural society. The prevalence was associated with demographic and socio-contextual characteristics of the children. The findings provide empirical evidence to support public health professionals and policy-makers to take effective measure to reduce child physical abuse in Bangladesh.

Objectives A population survey was conducted in an urban shantytown in Bangladesh, as a baseline study of future epidemiological studies. This paper aims to describe the findings of the study, including the population profile and residential environment of the urban poor. Methods We conducted a complete count household survey in an urban poor community in Dhaka. Using a brief structured questionnaire in Bengali language, trained interviewers visited each household and asked questions such as: duration of residence; ownership of house, toilet and kitchen; water supply; number of family members; age, sex, education, occupation, tobacco use, and history of diseases of each family member. Results We found that there were 8604 households and 34,170 people in the community. Average number of household members was 4.0. Most people had access to safe water, but only 16% lived in the house with a toilet. Based on the proxy indicators of household wealth levels, we identified that about 39% were relatively well-off, while the rest were very poor. Tobacco use was prevalent in men regardless of age and in women aged over 35 years. Prevalence of self-reported hypertension and diabetes was slightly higher in women than in men, although over 70% of the respondents didn’t know if they had such diseases. Incidences of diarrhea in the last one month were relatively low. Conclusions The study showed population profile and sanitation environment in an urban poor community by a complete count survey. We expect the study to serve as a baseline for future epidemiological studies.

Introduction In recent times, hypertension has become one of the major public health concerns in both the developed and the developing world and is responsible for death due to heart diseases and stroke. The increasing trend of the prevalence of hypertension in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) and it’s catastrophic consequences have made the phenomenon important to continue to investigate interventions for its prevention and control. Different dietary and lifestyle-related approaches have been recommended for the prevention of hypertension. The aim of this proposed review is to explore the available non-pharmacological interventions tried for the prevention of hypertension in LMICs. Methods and analysis Eight electronic databases will be searched covering the period between 1990 and 2016 to identify relevant studies and will be screened by two independent reviewers. The searched articles will be included for full-text extraction applying definitive inclusion and exclusion criteria. Appropriate critical appraisal tools including the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions will be used to assess the risk of bias. Disagreement between the two reviewers will be resolved by a third reviewer. Narrative synthesis of the findings will be provided along with summaries of the intervention effect. A meta-analysis will be undertaken using the random-effects model where applicable. Heterogeneity between the studies will be assessed, and sensitivity analysis will be conducted based on study quality. Ethics and dissemination Approval from the institutional review board has been taken for this review. Findings will be summarised in a single manuscript. This review is an attempt to explore the available non-pharmacological approaches for the prevention of hypertension in LMICs. Findings from the review will highlight effective non-pharmacological measures for the prevention of hypertension to guide policy for future strategies. PROSPERO registration number CRD42017055423.

ObjectivesThis study aims to describe the prevalence of non-communicable disease (NCD) risk factors among the urban poor in Bangladesh.DesignWe conducted a community-based cross-sectional epidemiological study.SettingThe study was conducted in a shantytown in the city of Dhaka. There were 8604 households with 34 170 residents in the community. Those households were categorised into two wealth strata based on the housing structure.ParticipantsThe study targeted residents aged 18–64 years. A total of 2986 eligible households with one eligible individual were selected by simple random sampling stratified by household wealth status. A total of 2551 residents completed the questionnaire survey, and 2009 participated in the subsequent physical and biochemical measurements.Outcome measuresA modified WHO survey instrument was used for assessing behavioural risk factors and physical and biochemical measurements, including glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c). The prevalence of NCD risk factors, such as tobacco use, fruit and vegetable intake, overweight/obesity, hypertension, diabetes (HbA1c ≥6.5%) and dyslipidaemia, was described according to household wealth status and gender differences.ResultsThe prevalence of current tobacco use was 60.4% in men and 23.5% in women. Most of them (90.8%) consumed more than 1 serving of fruits and vegetables per day; however, only 2.1% consumed more than 5 servings. Overweight/obesity was more common in women (39.2%) than in men (18.9%), while underweight was more common in men (21.0%) than in women (7.1%). The prevalence of hypertension was 18.6% in men and 20.7% in women. The prevalence of diabetes was 15.6% in men and 22.5% in women, which was much higher than the estimated national prevalence (7%). The prevalence of raised total cholesterol (≥190 mg/dL) was 25.7% in men and 34.0% in women.ConclusionThe study identified that tobacco use, both overweight and underweight, diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidaemia were prevalent among the urban poor in Bangladesh.