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Background Obesity is a global burden, which significantly increases the risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). More than a quarter of adults in the United Kingdom are obese, but prevalence varies by ethnicity, and South Asians have the largest burden of NCDs. This paper assesses how sex, generation, and region interplay to vary the predisposition to obesity-related (OR) NCDs among UK Bangladeshis. Methods We used National Institute for Health and Care Excellence suggested grading for combining body mass index and waist circumference to define populations at risk of OR-NCDs. Data from 517 adults of Bangladeshi origin from a cross-sectional study (March 2013 to April 2015) were analysed. Male and female participants from London and north-east England were equally sampled including: (1) adult migrants, who came to the UK aged >16 years; (2) child migrants, who came to the UK aged ≤16 years; and (3) second-generation Bangladeshis (who were born and brought up in the UK). A generalised estimating equation using a binomial distribution and a logit link was used to explore the relationship between the binary outcome of being ‘at risk of OR-NCDs’ and associated factors. Results Females, married individuals, those living in London, the second-generation, and those of lower self-assessed financial status, with low acculturation status, or who did not walk daily for at least 20 min were more likely to develop OR-NCDs. A striking sex difference was found with more females prone to OR-NCD risk in the north-east than in London. Conclusions Our study observed important inter- and intra-regional inequality in OR-NCD risk which worsens the health of ethnic minorities and widens inequality.

More than one billion people are affected by neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and many of these diseases are preventable. While the grouping of these conditions as NTDs has generated vast mapping, mass drug administration and surveillance programmes, there is growing evidence of gaps and weaknesses in purely biomedical approaches, and the need for responses that also recognise the social determinants of health. In order to unpack the social and political determinants of NTDs, it is important to view the problem from a social science perspective. Given this background, the Social Sciences for Severe Stigmatizing Skin Diseases (5S) Foundation has recently been established by the Centre for Global Health Research at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. The broad aim of the 5S Foundation is to incorporate social science perspectives in understanding and addressing the problems around three NTDs, namely, podoconiosis, mycetoma and scabies. This protocol paper sets out the aims and approaches of the 5S Foundation while activities such as research, public engagement, training and capacity building get underway.

Background The way we collect and use patient experience data is vital to optimise the quality and safety of health services. Yet, some patients and carers do not give feedback because of the limited ways data is collected, analysed and presented. In this study, we worked together with researchers, staff, patient and carer participants, and patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) contributors, to co-design new tools for the collection and use of patient experience data in multiple health settings. This paper outlines how the range of PPIE and research activities enabled the co-design of new tools to collect patient experience data. Methods Eight public contributors represented a range of relevant patient and carer experiences in specialist services with varied levels of PPIE experience, and eleven members of Patient and Participation Groups (PPGs) from two general practices formed our PPIE group at the start of the study. Slide sets were used to trigger co-design discussions with staff, patient and carer research participants, and PPIE contributors. Feedback from PPIE contributors alongside verbatim quotes from staff, patient and carer research participants is presented in relation to the themes from the research data. Results PPIE insights from four themes: capturing experience data; adopting digital or non-digital tools; ensuring privacy and confidentiality; and co-design of a suite of new tools with guidance, informed joint decisions on the shaping of the tools and how these were implemented. Our PPIE contributors took different roles during co-design and testing of the new tools, which supported co-production of the study. Conclusions Our experiences of developing multiple components of PPIE work for this complex study demonstrates the importance of tailoring PPIE to suit different settings, and to maximise individual strengths and capacity. Our study shows the value of bringing diverse experiences together, putting patients and carers at the heart of improving NHS services, and a shared approach to managing involvement in co-design, with the effects shown through the research process, outcomes and the partnership. We reflect on how we worked together to create a supportive environment when unforeseen challenges emerged (such as, sudden bereavement). Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40900-021-00329-3., Plain English summary The way we collect and use patient experience data is important because of concern that patients and carers may be excluded by the limited ways it is currently done in NHS services. In this study, we worked in partnership with researchers, staff, patient and carer participants, and patient and public involvement and engagement contributors, to co-design new tools for the collection, analysis and presentation of patient experience data. We focused on services for people with musculoskeletal conditions and services for people with severe mental health conditions. Our PPIE group, formed at the start of the study, represented a range of relevant and diverse health experiences from patients and carers of specialist services, and primary care. The aim of this paper is to share our experiences from working in partnership with our PPIE contributors on the co-design work of the study. Illustrations of how the PPIE activities added crucial insights in the shaping of the tools are given alongside the research data from patients, carers and staff participants. We experienced some challenges during the project. We discuss how we managed to work together to create a supportive environment when unforeseen challenges emerged (such as, sudden bereavement). Our experiences of developing multiple components of PPIE work for this study demonstrates the importance of tailoring PPIE to suit different settings, and to complement people’s strengths and capacity. It also shows the value of bringing diverse experiences together enabling a shared approach to co-design. Researchers and PPIE contributors wrote this paper jointly. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40900-021-00329-3.

Background South Asia is a hotspot for antimicrobial resistance due largely to over-the-counter antibiotic sales for humans and animals and from a lack of policy compliance among healthcare providers. Additionally, there is high population density and high infectious disease burden. This paper describes the development of social and behavioural change communication (SBCC) to increase the appropriate use of antibiotics. Methods We used formative research to explore contextual drivers of antibiotic sales, purchase, consumption/use and promotion among four groups: 1) households, 2) drug shop staff, 3) registered physicians and 4) pharmaceutical companies/medical sales representatives. We used formative research findings and an intervention design workshop with stakeholders to select target behaviours, prioritise audiences and develop SBCC messages, in consultation with a creative agency, and through pilots and feedback. The behaviour change wheel was used to summarise findings. Results Workshop participants identified behaviours considered amenable to change for all four groups. Household members and drug shop staff were prioritised as target audiences, both of which could be reached at drug shops. Among household members, there were two behaviours to change: suboptimal health seeking and ceasing antibiotic courses early. Thus, SBCC target behaviours included: seek registered physician consultations; ask whether the medicine provided is an antibiotic; ask for instructions on use and timing. Among drug shop staff, important antibiotic dispensing practices needed to change. SBCC target behaviours included: asking customers for prescriptions, referring them to registered physicians and increasing customer awareness by instructing that they were receiving antibiotics to take as a full course. Conclusions We prioritised drug shops for intervention delivery to all drug shop staff and their customers to improve antibiotic stewardship. Knowledge deficits among these groups were notable and considered amenable to change using a SBCC intervention addressing improved health seeking behaviours, improved health literacy on antibiotic use, and provision of information on policy governing shops. Further intervention refinement should consider using participatory methods and address the impact on profit and livelihoods for drug shop staff for optimal compliance.

IntroductionIn Bangladesh, Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) account for 67% of all deaths. Mental health services are not available in routine healthcare at the primary facilities in Bangladesh. The protocol is for a qualitative study that seeks to understand the perceptions, beliefs and norms regarding common mental disorders (CMDs) among patients with NCD with and without CMDs to identify barriers to accessing mental health services in rural communities in Bangladesh. We also aim to explore the feasibility of integrating mental healthcare into routine NCD services at primary health facilities in rural Bangladesh.Methods and analysisThis study will be conducted at the outpatient departments in two subdistrict hospitals and one district hospital in Munshiganj district in Bangladesh. We will purposefully select patients with hypertension and diabetes from the patient inventory generated from a recently completed randomised control trial titled ‘Control of Blood Pressure and Risk Attenuation Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka’ in two subdistricts in Munshiganj district in Bangladesh. The selected participants will be screened for CMD using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 Items (DASS-21) over the telephone. Sixty in-depth interviews with patients and family members, 8–10 key informant interviews with healthcare providers and 2 focus group discussions with community health workers will be held following consent.The study is conceptualised under Levesque et al’s framework. Thematic analysis will be applied following the study objectives and key issues, and commonly emerging topics generated by the data. The findings will be presented anonymously to corroborate the interpretation.Ethics and disseminationApproval has been obtained from the Institutional Review Board at icddr,b (PR-19108) and the University of York (HSRGC/2020/382/F). Written informed consent or audio recording consent form in Bangla will be obtained. For dissemination, we will invite representatives of the collaborating institutions to share the findings in national or international conferences and peer-reviewed journals.

Background Collecting NHS patient experience data is critical to ensure the delivery of high-quality services. Data are obtained from multiple sources, including service-specific surveys and widely used generic surveys. There are concerns about the timeliness of feedback, that some groups of patients and carers do not give feedback and that free-text feedback may be useful but is difficult to analyse. Objective To understand how to improve the collection and usefulness of patient experience data in services for people with long-term conditions using digital data capture and improved analysis of comments. Design The DEPEND study is a mixed-methods study with four parts: qualitative research to explore the perspectives of patients, carers and staff; use of computer science text-analytics methods to analyse comments; co-design of new tools to improve data collection and usefulness; and implementation and process evaluation to assess use of the tools and any impacts. Setting Services for people with severe mental illness and musculoskeletal conditions at four sites as exemplars to reflect both mental health and physical long-terms conditions: an acute trust (site A), a mental health trust (site B) and two general practices (sites C1 and C2). Participants A total of 100 staff members with diverse roles in patient experience management, clinical practice and information technology; 59 patients and 21 carers participated in the qualitative research components. Interventions The tools comprised a digital survey completed using a tablet device (kiosk) or a pen and paper/online version; guidance and information for patients, carers and staff; text-mining programs; reporting templates; and a process for eliciting and recording verbal feedback in community mental health services. Results We found a lack of understanding and experience of the process of giving feedback. People wanted more meaningful and informal feedback to suit local contexts. Text mining enabled systematic analysis, although challenges remained, and qualitative analysis provided additional insights. All sites managed to collect feedback digitally; however, there was a perceived need for additional resources, and engagement varied. Observation indicated that patients were apprehensive about using kiosks but often would participate with support. The process for collecting and recording verbal feedback in mental health services made sense to participants, but was not successfully adopted, with staff workload and technical problems often highlighted as barriers. Staff thought that new methods were insightful, but observation did not reveal changes in services during the testing period. Conclusions The use of digital methods can produce some improvements in the collection and usefulness of feedback. Context and flexibility are important, and digital methods need to be complemented with alternative methods. Text mining can provide useful analysis for reporting on large data sets within large organisations, but qualitative analysis may be more useful for small data sets and in small organisations. Limitations New practices need time and support to be adopted and this study had limited resources and a limited testing time. Future work Further research is needed to improve text-analysis methods for routine use in services and to evaluate the impact of methods (digital and non-digital) on service improvement in varied contexts and among diverse patients and carers. Funding This project was funded by the NIHR Health Services and Delivery Research programme and will be published in full in Health Services and Delivery Research; Vol. 8, No. 28. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

Background Cardiovascular disorders (CVD) are the single greatest cause of mortality worldwide. In the UK, the National Health Service (NHS) has launched an initiative of health checks over and above current care to tackle CVD. However, the uptake of Health Checks is poor in disadvantaged communities. This protocol paper sets out a UK-based study (Sussex and Nottingham) aiming to co-produce a community delivered CVD risk assessment and coaching intervention to support community members to reduce their risk of CVD. The overall aim of the project is to implement a tailored-to-context community engagement (CE) intervention on awareness of CVD risks in vulnerable populations in high, middle and low-income countries. The specific objectives of the study are to enhance stakeholder’ engagement; to implement lifestyle interventions for cardiovascular primary prevention, in disadvantaged populations and motivate uptake of NHS health checks. Methods This study uses both qualitative and quantitative methods in three phases of evaluation, including pre-, per- and post-implementation. To ensure contextual appropriateness the ‘Scaling-up Packages of Interventions for Cardiovascular disease prevention in selected sites in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa: An implementation research’ (SPICES) project will organize a multi-component community-engagement intervention. For the qualitative component, the pre-implementation phase will involve a contextual assessment and stakeholder mapping, exploring potentials for CVD risk profiling strategies and led by trained Community Health Volunteers (CHV) to identify accessibility and acceptability. The per-implementation phase will involve healthy lifestyle counselling provided by CHVs and evaluation of the outcome to identify fidelity and scalability. The post-implementation phase will involve developing sustainable community-based strategies for CVD risk reduction. All three components will include a process evaluation. A stepped wedge cluster randomised trial of the roll out will focus on implementation outcomes including uptake and engagement and changes in risk profiles. The quantitative component includes pre and post-intervention surveys. The theory of the socio-ecological framework will be applied to analyse the community engagement approach. Discussion Based on the results ultimately a sustainable community engagement-based strategy for the primary prevention of CVD risk will be developed to enhance the performance of NHS health care in the UK. The Trial Registration number is ISRCTN68334579.

IntroductionGlobal actions to reduce antimicrobial resistance (AMR) include optimising the use of antimicrobial medicines in human and animal health. In countries with weak healthcare regulation, this requires a greater understanding of the drivers of antibiotic use from the perspective of providers and consumers. In Bangladesh, there is limited research on household decision-making and healthcare seeking in relation to antibiotic use and consumption for humans and livestock. Knowledge is similarly lacking on factors influencing the supply and demand for antibiotics among qualified and unqualified healthcare providers.The aim of this study is to conduct integrated research on household decision-making for healthcare and antibiotic use, as well as the awareness, behaviours and priorities of healthcare providers and sellers of antibiotics to translate into policy development and implementation.Methods and analysisIn-depth interviews will be conducted with (1) household members responsible for decision-making about illness and antibiotic use for family and livestock; (2) qualified and unqualified private and government healthcare providers in human and animal medicine and (3) stakeholders and policy-makers as key informants on the development and implementation of policy around AMR. Participant observation within retail drug shops will also be carried out. Qualitative methods will include a thematic framework analysis.A holistic approach to understanding who makes decisions on the sale and use of antibiotics, and what drives healthcare seeking in Bangladesh will enable identification of routes to behavioural change and the development of effective interventions to reduce the health risks of AMR.Ethics and disseminationApproval for the study has been obtained from the Institutional Review Board at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh following review by the Research and Ethics Committees (PR-16100) and from Loughborough University (R17-P081). Information about the study will be provided in a participant information letter in Bangla (to be read verbally and given in writing to participants). A written informed consent form in Bangla will be obtained and participants will be informed of their right to withdraw from the study. Dissemination will take place through a 1 day dissemination workshop with key stakeholders in public health and policy, practitioners and scientists in Bangladesh, and through international conference presentations and peer-review publications. Anonymised transcripts of interviews will be made available through open access via institutional data repositories after an embargo period.

Background\ud To understand how to reduce antibiotic use, greater knowledge is needed about the complexities of access in countries with loose regulation or enforcement. This study aimed to explore how households in Bangladesh were accessing antimicrobials for themselves and their domestic animals.\ud \ud Methods\ud In-depth interviews were conducted with 48 households in one urban and one rural area. Households were purposively sampled from two lower income strata, prioritising those with under 5-year olds, older adults, household animals and minority groups. Households where someone was currently ill with a suspected infection (13 households) were invited for a follow-up interview. Framework analysis was used to explore access to healthcare and medicines.\ud \ud Findings\ud People accessed medicines for themselves through five pathways: drugs shops, private clinics, government/charitable hospitals, community/family planning clinics, and specialised/private hospitals. Drug shops provided direct access to medicines for common, less serious and acute illnesses. For persistent or serious illnesses, the healthcare pathway may include contacts with several of these settings, but often relied on medicines provided by drug shops. In the 13 households with an unwell family member, most received at least one course of antibiotics for this illness. Multiple and incomplete dosing were common even when prescribed by a qualified doctor. Antibiotics were identified by their high cost compared to other medicines. Cost was a reported barrier to purchasing full courses of antibiotics. Few households in the urban area kept household animals. In this rural area, government animal health workers provided most care for large household animals (cows), but drug shops were also important.\ud \ud Conclusions\ud In Bangladesh, unregulated drug shops provide an essential route to medicines including those prescribed in the formal sector. Wherever licensed suppliers are scarce and expensive, regulations which prohibit this supply risk removing access entirely for many people.

In a context where motherhood is an integral part of a woman's stereotype, being childless is a devastating experience. We explore how these so-called deviant women manage this situation. The objective of this article is to contribute to the debate regarding infertile women's agency, resilience, and resistance. This article is based on anthropological fieldwork among urban middle-class and rural poor women. Their life histories reveal that childless women in Bangladesh, a pro-natalist, patriarchal society, are not passive victims, but rather actively fight their stigmatization and manage to survive. The childless women follow overt and covert strategies to overcome their stigmatized identity and create space for themselves in various innovative ways. The women do not resist in a coordinated way as a group, but do so individually. Given the collective nature of a society like rural Bangladesh, we believe that the women's individual acts will eventually have collective effects.

This analysis challenges a tendency in public health and the social sciences to associate India's medical pluralism with a distinction between biomedicine, as a homogeneous entity, and its non-biomedical 'others'. We argue that this overdrawn dichotomy obscures the important part played by 'informal' biomedical practice, an issue with salience well beyond India. Based on a qualitative study in rural Andhra Pradesh, South India, we focus on a figure little discussed in the academic literature - the Registered Medical Practitioner (RMP) - who occupies a niche in the medical market-place as an informal exponent of biomedical treatment. We explore the significance of these practitioners by tracking diagnosis and treatment of one increasingly prominent medical 'condition', namely diabetes. The RMP, who despite the title is rarely registered, sheds light on the supposed formal-informal sector divide in India's healthcare system, and its permeability in practice. We develop our analysis by contrasting two distinctive conceptualisations of 'informality' in relation to the state in India - one Sarah Pinto's, the other Ananya Roy's.

Health is a core aspect of human security. Meanwhile human security is considered to reduce disaster risk. However, despite this logically derived association, we could find no studies that provide evidence of how people residing in the world's most environmentally at risk locations view health as a defence against disasters. This article therefore draws on findings from our research showing how people at risk of major climatic events in Bangladesh interpret disasters and accompanying health security indicators. The findings show that health is locally considered a protector against climate-related environmental hazards and that there are differences between individual and community level indicators. Health security in contexts of indigenously defined hazards and disasters at these study sites was based on a combination of economic and social processes related to food, livelihoods and finance. The study shows that health can underpin the means that a local community gains security in contexts of major cli...

This article explores the mismatch that exists between what unmarried adolescents in Bangladesh experience, want and need in regard to their sexuality and what they receive from their society, which negatively impacts on their understanding of sexuality and their well-being. The findings provide a picture of Bangladeshi adolescents' (12–18 years) sexual feelings, experiences, behaviours, anxieties and concerns – in particular in relation to desire, pleasure, sexual power, masturbation, virginity, romantic love and dating, and arranged marriage – and how socio-sexual norms and taboos influence these. Curiosity of boys and girls about sex was driven by a need and desire to know and understand, but also because it was exciting to read about and talk about sex. Young people are not just passive recipients of adult norms and messages around sexuality, but agents who actively construe meanings and navigate between what is expected from them and what they want, need and feel themselves. Adolescents have a need for information and support – long before they ever have sex. We call for a positive, rights-based approach to sexuality education for adolescents and a focus beyond health outcomes alone to support adolescents and young people to make sense of the multiplicity of messages they encounter and reduce unnecessary feelings of guilt and anxiety.

Health security is a relatively new concept in terms of how it is practised in disaster-prone locales. We observed 10 rural households in Bangladesh for four months using informal interviews, field diaries, and observation. The findings suggest that the everyday practises of health security involve the capabilities of “caring for themselves” in resource-constrained contexts. Understanding how households care for themselves prior to and during disasters presents an opportunity to examine how improved health might reduce the effects of disasters, ill health, and poverty. Some interventions are proposed to improve health security for poorer households in general and women in particular.\ud \ud La sécurité sanitaire est un concept relativement nouveau pour ce qui est de la manière dont elle est pratiquée dans les lieux sujets aux catastrophes. Nous avons observé 10 ménages ruraux au Bangladesh durant quatre mois en utilisant des entretiens informels, des journaux de terrain et l'observation. Les constatations suggèrent que les pratiques quotidiennes en matière de sécurité sanitaire font appel aux capacités à « s'occuper de soi » dans les contextes dotés de ressources limitées. En comprenant comment les ménages s'occupent d'eux-mêmes avant et durant les catastrophes, on se donne l'occasion d'examiner comment une santé améliorée pourrait réduire les effets des catastrophes, des problèmes de santé et de la pauvreté. Certaines interventions sont proposées pour améliorer la sécurité sanitaire pour les ménages pauvres en général, et les femmes en particulier.\ud \ud El concepto de seguridad en salud es relativamente nuevo en términos de cómo se ejerce en lugares proclives a los desastres. Los autores del presente artículo investigaron diez hogares rurales de Bangladesh durante cuatro meses, realizando entrevistas informales, manteniendo un diario de campo y efectuando observaciones. Los hallazgos encontrados al respecto sugieren que las prácticas desarrolladas cotidianamente para lograr la seguridad en salud implican tener la habilidad de “cuidarse a sí mismos” en contextos de limitados recursos. Comprender cómo las familias cuidan de sí mismas antes de y durante un desastre brinda la oportunidad de mejorar la seguridad en salud de los hogares con menos recursos y, en particular, de las mujeres.

There has been significant interest in the rhetoric of health security in recent years from both global and local perspectives. Understanding health in the context of disaster vulnerability presents an opportunity to examine how improved health might reduce the effects of environmental disasters and other crises. To this end, a project was implemented in Bangladesh to establish the potential of a health security approach for disaster resilience amongst people living in high risk environments. This paper explores what we might mean by health security through engaging community level perspectives in the southeast coastal belt of Bangladesh, an area prone to cyclone and flood. This has been examined with respect to variation in gender and wealth of households. Household surveys, interviews and focus group discussions were some of the methods used to collect data. The findings show that health related coping strategies and agentive capabilities in the context of impending crises vary from one micro-context to the next. This suggests a dynamic and integrative resilience that could be built on further, but one which remains remote from wider discourses on health security.

In Bangladesh, food security is increasingly being adversely affected by extreme climatic events. The food price hike has been fueled by the consecutive floods and cyclone of 2007. The immediate health impacts of these disasters include illnesses, deaths and psychological stress or trauma. A secondary impact has been food insecurity, badly affecting the health of the majority of the population in multiple ways. With the fall in income, and rise in expenditure costs, loss of assets during disaster and the burden of loan repayments, the process of pauperization of the low income households is accelerated. Low household consumption of food and eroded livelihoods expose people to increased health risks. While the impoverishment is exposing the poor more to the adverse impact of climate change, this also bars people from prioritizing their health. Besides highlighting the health impacts of these extreme climatic events, the paper analyzes the policies and interventions that aim to address the needs of people grappling with a complex combination of climate change, livelihood security, food security, health and development.

This article reports on a study of womens perceptions of illness in rural Bangladesh. The introduction notes that until recently international research efforts have neglected womens reproductive and sexual health issues and that qualitative methods are appropriate for determining the explanatory models of illness and health operating in a particular culture. This study therefore sought to let women themselves identify salient illness categories illness severity health priorities and health care preferences. After describing the Bangladeshi setting the research methodology is detailed. Data were gathered from a sample of 35 women from a "comparison" (nontreatment) community of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research via a variety of qualitative methods including free listing pile sorting and severity ratings (all analyzed using the ANTHROPAC computer program) as well as in-depth interviews. Free listing revealed the prominence of reproductive health-related problems to women and multidimensional scaling of pile sorting results revealed that reproductive health problems are believed to occupy a discrete illness domain. Severity ratings showed that reproductive health problems are among the most serious health problems facing women. Thus the women were proactive about seeking treatment as illustrated in a case study of a 24-year-old women with a reproductive tract infection. It is concluded that contrary to stereotypes reproductive health problems are a major concern for rural Bangladeshi women who require new public health initiatives to meet their needs.

Violence against women is a social mechanism confirming women's subordination in many societies. Sexual violence and harassment have various negative psychological impacts on girls, including a persistent feeling of insecurity and loss of self-esteem. This article aims to contextualize a particular form of sexual harassment, namely "eve teasing", experienced by Bangladeshi adolescent girls (12-18 years) which emerged from a study of adolescent sexual behaviour carried out by young people. The study used qualitative methods and a participatory approach, including focus group discussions, key informant interviews and observation. Despite taboos, unmarried adolescents actively seek information about sex, erotic pleasure and romance. Information was easily available from videos, mobile phone clips and pornographic magazines, but reinforced gender inequality. "Eve teasing" was one outlet for boys' sexual feelings; they gained pleasure from it and could show their masculinity. The girls disliked it and were afraid of being blamed for provoking it. Thus, "eve teasing" is a result of socio-cultural norms relating to sexuality, as well as a lack of access to sexual and reproductive health information and services in Bangladesh. These findings underscore the importance of comprehensive sexuality education that goes beyond a mere health focus and addresses gender norms and helps youth to gain social-sexual interaction skills.

The link between high fertility and poverty is well established. However, this paper shows how infertility may also generate poverty among childless families in Bangladesh. An ethnographic study was conducted, involving various qualitative research methods that revealed economic consequences to be one of the crucial sequelae of childlessness in Bangladesh. This paper details how the poverty/fertility relationship is dependent on social and institutional characteristics, including patriarchal values, education, urban-rural location and health services. Empirical data show that childlessness generates poverty in various ways, including the deprivation of children's earnings, decline in women's mobility, demoralisation of men to earn an income, marriage devaluation by the husband, disbursements for treatment and denial of microcredit (very small loans to those in poverty, which support them to become self-employed to generate income). The current study shows that the infertility/poverty relationship is mostly contingent upon class and gender. It is therefore the rural poor childless women who are most badly affected economically in Bangladesh rather than the urban middle class childless women. In other words, this study reveal that along with gender, class plays a dominant role in terms of the economic consequences of childlessness in Bangladesh. It sheds light on a different and unusual aspect of poverty and aims to contribute to the gender discussion of livelihood and poverty.