Search results

This study aims to explore whether socio-economic factors determine the level of menstrual knowledge and perceptions of schoolgirls in Bangladesh. The aim of this study is to understand how knowledge and perceptions vary with variations in the different socio-economic factors in a schoolgirl’s life such as place of residence, religion, age, grade, parents’ education, parents’ occupation, family income and even family size.

Data were collected from four schools (two in urban areas and two in rural areas). A total of 450 schoolgirls from grades V–X were interviewed to examine how knowledge and perceptions varied with different socio-economic aspects. Multiple logistic regression models were used to measure the associations between various socio-economic variables and perceptions of and knowledge about menstruation.

Respondents from urban areas were 4.75 times more likely and those 14–16 years old were two times more likely to report higher levels of knowledge about menstruation compared to their counterparts. Based on the father’s occupation, respondents whose father was engaged in a professional occupation were 1.983 times more likely to have a higher level of knowledge on menstruation compared to those whose fathers were in an unskilled profession. Similarly, the odds of positive perceptions on menstruation were 1.456 and 1.987 times higher, respectively, among respondents living in urban areas and those 14–16 years old, compared to their counterparts.

This study provides evidence that different socio-economic and even demographic factors are important in the development of menstrual knowledge and perceptions. Policy formulation and development actions related to adolescent girls’ physical and reproductive health development need to consider these factors in Bangladesh and in other developing countries, where poor knowledge and perception related to menstruation are hindering girls’ mental and physical development. This is expected that better knowledge and perception will facilitate girls’ right to have better health and social lives.

This study aims to analyze how English-language versions of e-newspapers in the first two countries affected, China and Japan, which are non-English-speaking countries and have different socio-economic and political settings, have highlighted Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic news and informed the global community.

A text-mining approach was used to explore experts’ thoughts as published by the two leading English-language newspapers in China and Japan from January to March 2020. This study analyzes the Opinion section, which mainly comprises editorial and the op-ed section. The current study groups all editorial discussions and highlights into ten major aspects, which cover health, economy, politics, culture and others.

Within the first three months, the media in both China and Japan shifted their focus from health and preparedness to the economy, politics and social welfare. Governance and social welfare were key concerns in China’s news media, while, in contrast, global politics received the highest level of attention from experts in Japan’s news media. Environment and technologies aspects did not receive much attention by the expert’s columns.

At the initial stage of a world crisis, how leading nations and initially affected nations deal with the problem, how media play their role and guide mass population with experts’ thoughts are highlighted here. The understanding developed in this study can provide guidance to news media in other countries in playing effective roles in the management of this health crisis and catastrophes.

This paper intends to examine the impacts of flood on water supply and sanitation condition along with flood induced health problems in a rural community of Bangladesh. It also aims to explore a rural community's adaptation approaches to flood.

This research relied on intensive field investigation where 120 households from different villages were selected randomly for questionnaire survey. Sampling was taken from different villages which were the most badly flood affected areas during all previous floods of Bangladesh. Field investigation was conducted in January 2007.

Flood is a common feature of the study area. Water supply and sanitation condition become severely disrupted during flood when it embraces various water borne diseases. During every flood about two‐thirds of the tube‐wells and all toilets become unusable. As an adaptation approach tube‐wells have been either placed on an elevated base or raised with an extra pipe. But owing to using hanging latrines or a boat and defecating directly into water bodies most people pollute those water bodies. Although majority of the people suffer from different water borne diseases no remarkable adaptation approach is followed. Few people store any emergency medicine before a flood and sometimes take treatment from local rural doctors.

By highlighting the nature and extent of impacts of flood on water supply, sanitation and health condition along with the adaptation this study urges the need for special attention and improvement of these sectors of rural Bangladesh under flood management programs of government and non‐government organizations.

This paper facilitates the understanding of the impact of floods on water supply, sanitation and health condition of rural people, which are not well addressed. At the same time its helps to learn lessons from their adaptation to flood.

It is well recognized that the poor who are already vulnerable and food insecure are likely to be more vulnerable to climate change. Especially the poor and marginal in developing nations are highly exposed and vulnerable as they have limited resources to adapt with climate uneven. For example most of the coastal communities in Bangladesh are poor and highly exposed to extreme climate evens and half of the coastal population is women, who are considered as most vulnerable to climate change impacts comparer to others as noted in (Dankelman et al., 2008). Social, economic and political context for women in Bangladesh makes them more vulnerable to climate change and food security. Furthermore, they suffer more than men during and after climatic disasters (FAO, 2008).

Through empirical studies among the rural poor women in south‐western coastal areas of Bangladesh, this study explores their hardship and perceptions about climate change impacts.

It also scrutinizes the impact of climate change on the food security of rural poor women through examining the changes in food availability, consumption pattern and women's daily working pattern and changing lifestyle to ensure household food security.

This study would help the development workers to realize the nature and extent of the problems and thus facilitate to undertake effective policies and actions.

Building a resilient city requires detail and careful assessment of its current level of vulnerabilities and resilience. During such assessment and initiatives it should remember that there are large differences in risk and vulnerability within urban areas (Satterthwaite, Dodman, & Bicknell, 2009). It is natural to consider that the vulnerabilities and eventually the resilience level would not be same for all parts of a city, especially one that is relatively larger. A city, especially a large one, covers a substantial and often physiographically heterogeneous area with different exposures and susceptibility to hazards. Furthermore, a city's population and the conditions under which it lives are diverse. Therefore, some parts and peoples of a city may be more vulnerable than others (Klein, Nicholls, & Thomalla, 2004). In fact, cities form different microclimates within them because of the variations of land use, settlement patterns, functions, densities, and characteristics of the residential areas and their communities. All of these diversities contribute to disaster risk; in turn, these affect human development and the resilience of different parts of the city International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR).