Parallel Plights in Advancing Menstrual Equity: A Scoping Review of Period Poverty in India and the United States.

As calls for improved menstrual health management have gained momentum in sociopolitical contexts, period poverty and menstrual equity have gradually been established and recognized in the discipline of public health. These conversations typically take place in the context of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where donor-sponsored projects are already underway. Nevertheless, research on period poverty in high-income countries (HICs) is seldom performed.

Changing paradigm of malnutrition among Bangladeshi women of reproductive age and gaps in national Nutrition Policies and Action Plans to tackle the emerging challenge.

Objective: The main objective of this paper is to document the changing paradigm of malnutrition in Bangladesh and estimating how this is creating an intergenerational risk. This paper also examines national policy responses to tackle the silent epidemic of double burden of malnutrition.

Methods: Publicly available datasets of five Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys were used to see the changing paradigm of malnutrition among Bangladesh women.

Stagnation of maternal mortality decline in Bangladesh between 2010 and 2016 in spite of an increase in health services utilisation: Examining data from three large cross-sectional surveys.

Background: After a 40% reduction in maternal mortality ratio (MMR) during 2001-2010 in Bangladesh, the MMR level stagnated between 2010 and 2016 despite a steady increase in maternal health services use and improvements in overall socioeconomic status. We revisited the factors that contributed to MMR decline during 2001-2010 and examined the changes in these factors between 2010 and 2016 to explain the MMR stagnation in Bangladesh.

Methods: We used data from the 2001, 2010, and 2016 Bangladesh Maternal Mortality Surveys, which sampled 566 115 households in total, to estimate the changes in the risk of dying of maternal causes associated with a pregnancy or birth between 2001-2010 and 2010-2016.

Estimating the effects of COVID-19 on essential health services utilization in Uganda and Bangladesh using data from routine health information systems.

Background: Since March 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been a major shock to health systems across the world. We examined national usage patterns for selected basic, essential health services, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda and Bangladesh, to determine whether COVID-19 affected reporting of service utilization and the use of health services in each country.

Methods: We used routine health information system data since January 2017 to analyze reporting and service utilization patterns for a variety of health services.

Area-specific covid-19 effects on health services utilization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo using routine health information system data.

Background: Since March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has shocked health systems worldwide. This analysis investigated the effects of the pandemic on basic health services utilization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and examined the variability of COVID effects in the capital city Kinshasa, in other urban areas, and in rural areas.

Methods: We estimated time trends models using national health information system data to replicate pre-COVID-19 (i.

Predicting nutritional status for women of childbearing age from their economic, health, and demographic features: A supervised machine learning approach.

Background: Malnutrition imposes enormous costs resulting from lost investments in human capital and increased healthcare expenditures. There is a dearth of research focusing on the prediction of women's body mass index (BMI) and malnutrition outcomes (underweight, overweight, and obesity) in developing countries. This paper attempts to fill out this knowledge gap by predicting the BMI and the risks of malnutrition outcomes for Bangladeshi women of childbearing age from their economic, health, and demographic features.

Socioeconomic disparities in diabetes prevalence and management among the adult population in Bangladesh.

Background: Diabetes, one of the major metabolic disorders, is rising in Bangladesh. Studies indicate there is inequality in prevalence and care-seeking behavior, which requires further exploration to understand the socioeconomic disparities in the pathophysiology of diabetes. This study examined the latest nationally representative estimates of diabetes prevalence, awareness, and management among adults aged 18 years and above in Bangladesh and its association with socioeconomic status in 2017-18.

A comparison of approaches to measuring maternal mortality in Bangladesh, Mozambique, and Bolivia.

Background: Many low- and middle-income countries cannot measure maternal mortality to monitor progress against global and country-specific targets. While the ultimate goal for these countries is to have complete civil registrations systems, other interim strategies are needed to provide timely estimates of maternal mortality.

Objective: The objective is to inform on potential options for measuring maternal mortality.

Estimating the impact of donor programs on child mortality in low- and middle-income countries: a synthetic control analysis of child health programs funded by the United States Agency for International Development.

Background: Significant levels of funding have been provided to low- and middle-income countries for development assistance for health, with most funds coming through direct bilateral investment led by the USA and the UK. Direct attribution of impact to large-scale programs funded by donors remains elusive due the difficulty of knowing what would have happened without those programs, and the lack of detailed contextual information to support causal interpretation of changes.

Methods: This study uses the synthetic control analysis method to estimate the impact of one donor's funding (United States Agency for International Development, USAID) on under-five mortality across several low- and middle-income countries that received above average levels of USAID funding for maternal and child health programs between 2000 and 2016.

Demographic, socioeconomic, and biological correlates of hypertension in an adult population: evidence from the Bangladesh demographic and health survey 2017-18.

Background: Bangladesh is well advanced in the epidemiologic transition from communicable to noncommunicable diseases, which now account for two out of three deaths annually. This paper examines the latest nationally representative hypertension prevalence estimates, awareness, treatment, and control-to identify their association with potential correlates.

Methods: The analyses are based on the recent Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2017-18 data.

Reducing Inequity in Urban Health: Have the Intra-urban Differentials in Reproductive Health Service Utilization and Child Nutritional Outcome Narrowed in Bangladesh?

Bangladesh is undergoing a rapid urbanization process. About one-third of the population of major cities in the country live in slums, which are areas that exhibit pronounced concentrations of factors that negatively affect health and nutrition. People living in slums face greater challenge to improve their health than other parts of the country, which fuels the growing intra-urban health inequities.

Production and use of estimates for monitoring progress in the health sector: the case of Bangladesh.

Background:  In order to support the progress towards the post-2015 development agenda for the health sector, the importance of high-quality and timely estimates has become evident both globally and at the country level.

Objective And Methods: Based on desk review, key informant interviews and expert panel discussions, the paper critically reviews health estimates from both the local (i.e.

Effects of individual, household and community characteristics on child nutritional status in the slums of urban Bangladesh.

Background: Bangladesh urban population is expected to overtake rural population by 2040, and a significant part of the increase will be in slums. Wide disparities between urban slums and the rest of the country can potentially push country indicators off track unless the specific health and nutrition needs of the expanding slum communities are addressed. The study aims at describing the individual, household and community determinants of undernutrition status among children living in major urban strata, viz.

Fifteen years of sector-wide approach (SWAp) in Bangladesh health sector: an assessment of progress.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) of the Government of Bangladesh embarked on a sector-wide approach (SWAp) modality for the health, nutrition and population (HNP) sector in 1998. This programmatic shift initiated a different set of planning disciplines and practices along with institutional changes in the MOHFW. Over the years, the SWAp modality has evolved in Bangladesh as the MOHFW has learnt from its implementation and refined the program design.

Monitoring and evaluating progress towards Universal Health Coverage in Bangladesh.

This paper is a country case study for the Universal Health Coverage Collection, organized by WHO. Tanvir Mahmudul Huda and colleagues illustrate progress towards UHC and its monitoring and evaluation in Bangladesh.

Maternal mortality in Bangladesh: a Countdown to 2015 country case study.

Background: Bangladesh is one of the only nine Countdown countries that are on track to achieve the primary target of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 by 2015. It is also the only low-income or middle-income country with two large, nationally-representative, high-quality household surveys focused on the measurement of maternal mortality and service use.

Methods: We use data from the 2001 and 2010 Bangladesh Maternal Mortality Surveys to measure change in the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) and from these and six Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys to measure changes in factors potentially related to such change.

Beliefs and practices during pregnancy and childbirth in urban slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Background: Worldwide urbanization has become a crucial issue in recent years. Bangladesh, one of the poorest and most densely-populated countries in the world, has been facing rapid urbanization. In urban areas, maternal indicators are generally worse in the slums than in the urban non-slum areas.

Use of a Balanced Scorecard in strengthening health systems in developing countries: an analysis based on nationally representative Bangladesh Health Facility Survey.

This paper illustrates the importance of collecting facility-based data through regular surveys to supplement the administrative data, especially for developing countries of the world. In Bangladesh, measures based on facility survey indicate that only 70% of very basic medical instruments and 35% of essential drugs were available in health facilities. Less than 2% of officially designated obstetric care facilities actually had required drugs, injections and personnel on-site.

Sociodemographic differentials of selected noncommunicable diseases risk factors among adults in Matlab, Bangladesh: findings from a WHO STEPS survey.

The study examined noncommunicable diseases risk factors among adults 25 to 64 years old of the Matlab Health and Demographic Surveillance System using World Health Organization STEP-wise methodology. The prevalence of smoking was found to be very high for males (53.9%) and it increased initially with age, whereas smoking was almost nil for females (0.

Population challenges for Bangladesh in the coming decades.

Bangladesh currently has a population approaching 150 million and will add another 100 million before stabilizing, unless fertility can soon drop below replacement level. This level of fertility decline will require a change in marriage patterns, which have been minimal so far, even with increasing female schooling. It would also benefit from a long-awaited shift to long-term contraception.