Infant and Under-five Mortality in Bangladesh: Discriminant Analysis

Bangladesh is on target for achieving the Millennium Development Goal 4 relating to infant and under-five mortality because of very rapid reduction in mortality in recent years. But this rate of reduction may be difficult to sustain and may hamper the achievement of Millennium Development Goal 4. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to discuss and compare the dif- ferent covariates of infant and under-five mortality in the context of overall country, urban and rural levels of Bangladesh using discriminant analysis. For this, the data are taken from Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, 2004. In discriminant analysis, the stepwise procedure has been picked up and only the significant variables are ranked according to the rank of Wilk's Lambda val- ues. The canonical discriminant function coefficients (unstandard- ized and standardized) for the predictor variables have also been calculated. Both the results show that breastfeeding is the most important variable in discriminating the two groups of mothers, i.e., mothers experiencing to infant mortality or not and mothers experiencing to under-five mortality or not. The related results of discriminant function also indicate that the discriminant func- tion is statistically significant and discriminates well. Therefore, improvements in the health system are essential for promoting the breastfeeding practices (both inclusive and exclusive), which may be the effective strategies to reach families and communities with targeted messages and information.

Direct and Indirect Effects of Socioeconomic Factors on Age at First Marriage in Slum Areas,Bangladesh

This article attempts to examine the influence of some selected predictor variables on female age at first marriage in slum areas of Bangladesh.A path and multiple classification analysis(MCA) approach have been adopted.Authors thought that respondent's educational level and the mass media such as watching television have a significant direct impact on age at marriage,while the types of family and occupational status have an indirect effect on age at marriage.

Knowledge Level about HIV/AIDS among the Villagers of Comilla District, Bangladesh

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has grown on an unprecedented scale since it was first recognized, and presently it is considered as a well known global public health crisis. In making the health policy where millions of populations are at risk, it is necessary to understand the knowledge level about HIV/AIDS. So, this study aimed at to investigate the knowledge level about HIV/AIDS among the villagers. Data and necessary information were collected from one hundred villagers of Salmanpur from Comilla district, Bangladesh through a structured questionnaire. The collected data were used for univariate analysis, to carry out the description of the variables;and to justify the total score of knowledge about HIV/AIDS among the respondents, Cronbach’s alpha (α) was calculated. The results revealed that almost all the respondents (92.00%) were ever heard about HIV/AIDS and half of them (51.00%) were known it as a communicable disease. Majority of the respondents (62.00%) believed that it is caused by heterosexual relation as well as sex with HIV positive persons. However, a good number of respondents were found unaware about the major causes and preventive ways of AIDS. Less than half of the respondents (45.00%) had medium knowledge (α = 0.34 - 0.66) and only 36.00% had the enough knowledge about HIV/AIDS. The knowledge level is increasing with the increase of education level, and the respondents who involved in agricultural works are found the lowest knowledge level (47.00%) about HIV/AIDS. The villagers were known about HIV/AIDS but they do not have accurate information about the ways in which AIDS virus can or cannot be transmitted. Therefore, effective programs should be taken to increase the knowledge level about HIV/AIDS among the villagers in Bangladesh.

Determinants of emergency contraceptive pill use in Bangladesh: An analysis of national survey data

Objective:To examine the determinants of emergency contraceptive pill use in Bangladesh.Methods:Data for this cross-sectional study came from 2017-2018 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey.Characteristics of 906 reproductive age women who were potential candidates for using emergency contraceptive pill were analysed in this study.Data were analysed using univariate and multivariate analyses.Stepwise binary logistic regression was employed as multivariate analysis.Results:Only 10.9%candidates were found to ever use emergency contraceptive pill.The odds of using emergency contraceptive pill for women visited by family planning field worker was significantly higher than that for those who were not visited by family planning field worker[odds ratio(OR)1.94;95%confidence interval(CI)1.19–3.17;P=0.008],while the odds of using emergency contraceptive pill for women with high socioeconomic status was higher than that for those with low socioeconomic status(OR 3.10;95%CI 1.61–5.97;P=0.001).Additionally,having some media access was linked to an increase in the odds of using emergency contraceptive pill(OR 3.01;95%CI 1.33–6.83;P=0.008).Women empowerment related factors did not show any significant effect on emergency contraceptive pill use.Conclusions:The findings indicate that family planning programme has a great opportunity of playing an important role in increasing emergency contraceptive pill use in Bangladesh by increasing the knowledge and awareness of women about emergency contraceptive pill.

Determinants of HIV/AIDS Awareness among Garments Workers in Dhaka City, Bangladesh

The main purpose of this study is to find the awareness level as well as the determinants of awareness on HIV/AIDS among the garments workers in Dhaka City, Bangladesh. To do so, 200 garments workers were interviewed through a structured questionnaire using purposive sampling technique. As the statistical tools, univariate analysis was completed to figure out frequency distribution and the binary logistic regression model was used to predict the probability occurrence of the events by fitting data. The results revealed that the majority of the garments workers (63.5%) are very young (18 - 27 years), almost all (97.5%) are literate and most of them (57.0%) used contraceptives. Importantly, most of the respondents (64.0%) had not participated in any type of seminar or workshop related to HIV/AIDS, though almost all the respondents (84.5%) know HIV is a dangerous and life threatening disease. The logistic regression model identified that respondents' education, contraceptive usage, mass media and HIV workshops have statistically significant positive effects on HIV/AIDS awareness. Various media campaigns are strongly suggested to be increased knowledge and awareness to control the spread of HIV as well as STDs among garments workers in Bangladesh.