A protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial to assess the impact of Balika Bodhu: A combined empowerment and social norm based sexual and reproductive health and rights intervention for married adolescent girls in rural Bangladesh.

Introduction: Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are vital for both individual well-being and development. Bangladesh has made long strides in improving SRHR over the last few decades. However, the progress has been uneven across various groups of reproductive-aged females, with the married adolescent girls (MAGs) often being more vulnerable to denial of SRHR than other women.

Effectiveness of combined interventions to empower girls and address social norms in reducing child marriage in a rural sub-district of Bangladesh: A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial of the Tipping Point Initiative.

Background: Elimination of girl child marriage (CM) globally at the current pace is projected to take about 300 years. Thus, innovative and effective solutions are urgently warranted. Bangladesh reports one of the highest rates of CM in the world.

Factors Associated With Domestic Violence Against Women at Different Stages of Life: Findings From a 19-Year Longitudinal Dataset From the MINIMat Trial in Rural Bangladesh (2001-2020).

Despite the abundance of literature, longitudinal studies evaluating the factors associated with domestic violence (DV) at different stages and over longer periods of women's lives are rare. We evaluated factors associated with physical and sexual DV during pregnancy, at 10-year, and 18-year follow-ups after pregnancy and within a 19-year period of life using a cohort of women ( = 1,126) who participated in the Maternal and Infant Nutrition Interventions, Matlab trial in rural Bangladesh. Data on women's experience of DV, social and economic characteristics, empowerment, and family condition were recorded in a similar manner during pregnancy and at 10- and 18-year follow-ups, using standard questionnaires.

Effect of Rural-Urban Migration on Age at Marriage Among Adolescent Girls in Bangladesh.

Objectives: Bangladesh reports one of the highest rates of child marriage (CM) (59%) in the world and the highest rate within South Asia. Age at marriage of girls is a critical human rights and developmental issue in Bangladesh. Migration has been documented to be positively associated with age at marriage.

A cluster randomized controlled trial for measuring the impact of a social norm intervention addressing child marriage in in Rangpur district of Bangladesh: study protocol for evaluation of the Tipping Point Initiative.

Child Marriage (CM) is one of the major developmental concerns in Bangladesh, reporting one of the highest rates of CM (59%) globally. To date, interventions to address CM in Bangladesh have failed to seriously engage with social norms that are important contributors to CM. This paper describes the evaluation design of the Tipping Point Initiative that aims to reduce CM through social norm change and increasing adolescent girls' agency to voice their rights.

An Exploration of Social Norms That Restrict Girls' Sexuality and Facilitate Child Marriage in Bangladesh to Inform Policies and Programs.

Purpose: Despite international commitments and increases in education and economic opportunities for girls and young women, child marriage persists and, in some contexts, reductions have stagnated. In order to accelerate and sustain progress, a better understanding of the social norms that continue to support the practice is required.

Methods: This qualitative study used 20 in-depth interviews with adolescent girls and another 10 with boys, a total of 16 focus group discussions with girls, boys, and parents of adolescent girls, and 8 key informant interviews with community leaders, to identify and understand the expectations that support the practice of child marriage, in communities in northern Bangladesh.

Impact evaluation of the Care Tipping Point Initiative in Nepal: study protocol for a mixed-methods cluster randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Girl child, early and forced marriage (CEFM) persists in South Asia, with long-term consequences for girls. CARE's Tipping Point Initiative (TPI) addresses the causes of CEFM by challenging repressive gender norms and inequalities. The TPI engages different participant groups on programmatic topics and supports community dialogue to build girls' agency, shift inequitable power relations, and change community norms sustaining CEFM.

Learnings from the evaluation of HERrespect: a factory-based intervention to prevent intimate partner and workplace violence against female garment workers in Bangladesh.

: Intimate partner violence (IPV) and workplace violence (WPV) against women are widespread globally, and we set out to establish whether an intervention on gender-transformative programming delivered to Bangladeshi garment factory workers could reduce women's experience of IPV and WPV. We developed and tested an intervention, HERrespect and encountered considerable obstacles. : To describe the challenges in program implementation and evaluation in the factories and the serious implications that arose for the study outcomes.

Workplace violence in Bangladesh's garment industry.

Workplace violence (WPV) is widely reported in the Bangladeshi garment industry, impacting women workers' health and wellbeing. We explore factors associated with female workers experience or witnessing of WPV and perpetration by managers, in eight Bangladeshi garment factories. We hypothesise workers' experience of WPV is associated with i) individual factors, potentially impacting productivity (age, depression, length of work, and disability/functional limitations), ii) experience of intimate partner violence (IPV), and iii) factory culture (management styles, and adherence to laws around workers' rights).

SOX2 in cancer stemness: tumor malignancy and therapeutic potentials.

Cancer stem cells (CSCs), a minor subpopulation of tumor bulks with self-renewal and seeding capacity to generate new tumors, posit a significant challenge to develop effective and long-lasting anti-cancer therapies. The emergence of drug resistance appears upon failure of chemo-/radiation therapy to eradicate the CSCs, thereby leading to CSC-mediated clinical relapse. Accumulating evidence suggests that transcription factor SOX2, a master regulator of embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells, drives cancer stemness, fuels tumor initiation, and contributes to tumor aggressiveness through major drug resistance mechanisms like epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, ATP-binding cassette drug transporters, anti-apoptotic and/or pro-survival signaling, lineage plasticity, and evasion of immune surveillance.

The pathways between female garment workers' experience of violence and development of depressive symptoms.

Background: The prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) is high (54%) in Bangladesh. Moreover, female garment workers report higher rates of IPV and are also vulnerable to workplace violence (WPV). Experience of violence puts women at increased risk of developing depressive symptoms, which are related with low self-esteem, lower life satisfaction and lower productivity.

Magnitude and correlates of intimate partner violence against female garment workers from selected factories in Bangladesh.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a huge public health, development and human rights issue worldwide. Despite the fact that working women in patriarchal contexts commonly report higher level of IPV, literature on this subject is still scanty. This paper assessed the magnitude of different types of IPV against female garment workers and identified its correlates using cross-sectional survey data collected during September-December, 2016 from 800 female garment workers randomly selected from lists provided by eight garment factories in and around Dhaka, Bangladesh.

A cluster randomized controlled trial to assess the impact of SAFE on spousal violence against women and girls in slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Background: Bangladesh reports one of the highest rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the world. Despite wide recognition of IPV as an important public health and human rights issue, evidence for IPV prevention is still inadequate. Lack of guidance on effective IPV prevention in Bangladesh resulted in targeting only women in most of the programmes.

The HERrespect intervention to address violence against female garment workers in Bangladesh: study protocol for a quasi-experimental trial.

Background: Women in Bangladesh experience high rates of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). IPV is more prevalent against income earning women compared to their non-earning counterparts, and Workplace Violence (WPV) is also common. Such violence is a violation of women's rights, and also constrains them from contributing to their personal growth, household, community and the economy at large.

Men's knowledge and awareness of maternal, neonatal and child health care in rural Bangladesh: a comparative cross sectional study.

Background: The status of men's knowledge of and awareness to maternal, neonatal and child health care are largely unknown in Bangladesh and the effect of community focused interventions in improving men's knowledge is largely unexplored. This study identifies the extent of men's knowledge and awareness on maternal, neonatal and child health issues between intervention and control groups.

Methods: This cross sectional comparative study was carried out in six rural districts of Bangladesh in 2008.

Oral misoprostol for preventing postpartum haemorrhage in home births in rural Bangladesh: how effective is it?

Aims: Evidence exists about prevention of postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) by oral administration of misoprostol in low-income countries, but effectiveness of prevention by lay community health workers (CHW) is not sufficient. This study aimed to investigate whether a single dose (400 µg) of oral misoprostol could prevent PPH in a community home-birth setting and to assess its acceptability and feasibility among rural Bangladeshi women.

Methods: This quasi-experimental trial was conducted among 2,017 rural women who had home deliveries between November 2009 and February 2010 in two rural districts of northern Bangladesh.