A new approach to children's work that prioritises resilience, well-being and agency: emerging findings from a 'cash plus' intervention in Bangladesh.

Background: Criticism of mainstream approaches to child labour is widespread and well-established. The Child Labour Action Research in South and Southeast Asia (CLARISSA) Cash Plus pilot sought to address these critiques through an innovative programme that prioritised the development of household resilience and well-being, and through increasing household capacity to make alternative choices around children's work.

Research: Funded by the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, this pilot delivered unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) and needs-based case management and community mobilising across an entire slum neighbourhood in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Understanding mental health challenges and associated risk factors of post-natural disasters in Bangladesh: a systematic review.

Background And Objectives: Natural disasters are harmful occurrences caused by the Earth's geological and meteorological processes. Bangladesh is recognized as one of the country's most vulnerable to natural disasters. Therefore, the people of Bangladesh remain at high risk of natural disasters.

Link between gender inequality and women's satisfaction with maternal healthcare services: a cross-sectional study in Khulna, Bangladesh.

Background: Gender inequality within households remains a significant barrier to accessing maternal healthcare services in many low-resource settings, including Bangladesh. Understanding the relationship between the gender inequality faced by women in households and their perceived satisfaction with maternal healthcare services is important.

Objective: This study aims to identify the factors influencing gender inequality and investigate the association between gender inequality faced by women within households and their perceived satisfaction with maternal healthcare services.

PROTOCOL: Effectiveness of social accountability interventions in low- and middle-income countries: An evidence and gap map.

This is the protocol for an evidence and gap map, which aims to map the existing evidence on the effectiveness of social accountability interventions in low- and middle-income countries. This map will help users identify the size and quality of the evidence base, guide strategic program development, and highlight gaps for future research. The map will cover studies published after 2000, including systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials, non-experimental designs, and before-after designs.

Impact of COVID-19 on celebration of death, mortuary, and funerary customs in Bangladesh: A qualitative study.

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions significantly impacted religious activities related to death celebrations, mortuary practices, and funerary rituals in Bangladesh. Bereaved families faced a harsh reality, unable to perform the full rituals for their loved ones due to the pandemic outbreak. This study explores the adjustments and modifications made in cultural rituals and how they affected bereaved families and close relatives.

Evaluation of a disability-inclusive ultra-poor graduation programme in Uganda: study protocol for a cluster-randomised controlled trial with process evaluation.

Background: There is little evidence on how to support ultra-poor people with disabilities to adopt sustainable livelihoods. The Disability-Inclusive Graduation (DIG) programme targets ultra-poor people with disabilities and/or women living in rural Uganda. The programme is an adaptation of an ultra-poor graduation model that has been shown to be effective in many contexts but not evaluated for people with disabilities.

Health sector corruption in the times of COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh: Newspapers as mirrors of society.

Objective: This paper aimed to identify and explore the major areas of health-sector corruption during COVID-19 pandemic as revealed in the print media. Findings are expected to mitigate health sector corruption in the country and contribute to strengthening the health systems.

Method: 2588 news articles on health topics were identified through scanning six leading newspapers in Bangladesh during Mar.

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to healthcare among people with disabilities: evidence from six low- and middle-income countries.

Background: The pandemic has placed considerable strain on health systems, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), leading to reductions in the availability of routine health services. Emerging evidence suggests that people with disabilities have encountered marked challenges in accessing healthcare services and supports in the context of the pandemic. Further research is needed to explore specific barriers to accessing healthcare during the pandemic, and any strategies that promoted continued access to health services in LMICs where the vast majority of people with disabilities live.

Impact of a disability-targeted livelihoods programme in Bangladesh: study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial of STAR.

Introduction: There is little evidence on the impact of livelihood interventions amongst people with disabilities. Effective programmes are critical for reducing the heightened risk of poverty and unemployment facing persons with disabilities. STAR+ is a skills development and job placement programme targeted to out-of-school youth with disabilities (ages 14-35) living in poverty.

COVID-19 Vaccination: Willingness and practice in Bangladesh.

Motivation: Mass adult immunization for COVID-19, coupled with the urgency, is a challenge for any lower-middle-income country (LMIC) like Bangladesh. Our analysis focuses on demand-side constraints early in the vaccination campaign to help gauge vaccine acceptability and potential contributing factors. Identifying registration and compliance challenges early on will help ensure a seamless immunization programme.

Intersecting Disadvantages for Married Adolescents: Life After Marriage Pre- and Post-COVID-19 in Contexts of Displacement.

Purpose: Although there is a growing evidence base on the drivers of child marriage, comparatively little is known about the experiences of married girls in refugee settings and how their development trajectories diverge from those of their nonmarried peers, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on cross-national panel data from Bangladesh and Jordan, this article explores diversity in child marriage experiences in contexts affected by forced displacement, highlighting how married girls' well-being differs from that of their unmarried peers, and how COVID-19 has reinforced these differences.

Methods: We analyzed longitudinal survey data-collected pre- and post-COVID-19-from the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence study with 293 ever-married and 1,102 never-married adolescent girls.

Assessing the effect of climate change and financial development on agricultural production in ASEAN-4: the role of renewable energy, institutional quality, and human capital as moderators.

This paper examines the effect of climate change and financial development on agricultural production in ASEAN-4, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand from 1990 to 2016. Further, we explore the role of renewable energy, institutional quality, and human capital on agricultural production. Since the shocks in one country affect another country, we use second-generation modeling techniques to find out the relationship among the variables.

An evaluation of the causal effect between air pollution and renewable electricity production in Sweden: Accounting for the effects of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made a significant disruption in the renewable industry, and the effects will last longer. In this context, understanding how and which specific renewable power got affected due to this crisis is of crucial importance. This study examines the nexus between COVID-19 and Sweden's renewable electricity production from three sources of energy such as nuclear, solar, and wind, where the data ranges from January 1, 2019, to February 17, 2021.

Intersecting barriers to adolescents' educational access during COVID-19: Exploring the role of gender, disability and poverty.

This article explores the social determinants of adolescents' access to education during the COVID-19 pandemic in three diverse urban contexts in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Jordan. It provides novel empirical data from the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence longitudinal study, drawing on phone surveys (4441), qualitative interviews with adolescents aged 12-19 years (500), and key informant interviews conducted between April and October 2020. Findings highlight that the pandemic is compounding pre-existing vulnerabilities to educational disadvantage, and that gender, poverty and disability are intersecting to deepen social inequalities.

The role of solar energy and eco-innovation in reducing environmental degradation in China: Evidence from QARDL approach.

In the past decade, researchers have shifted their interests to explore different ways to mitigate environmental degradation. In that context, the present study explores the role of solar energy and eco-innovation in reducing environmental degradation in China. The study utilized data for the period 1990-2018 and applied the latest available econometric technique, a quantile autoregressive distributed lag model, to determine the impacts of solar energy and eco-innovation on improving China's environmental quality.

Exploring the nexus between agriculture and greenhouse gas emissions in BIMSTEC region: The role of renewable energy and human capital as moderators.

Agriculture and the food system emit a considerable amount of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in the atmosphere. Hence, current researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders are calling for improving the environmental performance of agriculture. This study utilizes the countries of The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) to investigate the effect of agriculture value-added, pesticide use, renewable energy adoption, human capital, and economic growth on greenhouse gas emissions.

"When I Need to Travel, I Feel Feverish": Everyday Experiences of Transport Inequalities Among Older Adults in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Background And Objectives: Buses are the most common form of public transport for older adults in developing countries. With over 37% of total trips, buses are the principal mode of transport in Dhaka. The majority of older adults are dependent on buses because of their affordability relative to other modes such as auto-rickshaws, rideshares, and taxis.

Demand for tobacco products in Bangladesh.

Background: Tobacco tax increase is considered as one of the most effective means to reduce tobacco consumption and its consequences. An increase in taxes, which results in an increase in the price of tobacco products, reduces consumption. Historically, a number of studies estimated the responsiveness of quantity demanded to a change in price-the price elasticity of demand-of tobacco products in Bangladesh.

The moral and political economy of the pandemic in Bangladesh: Weak states and strong societies during Covid-19.

As the Covid-19 pandemic spread in 2020, the government of Bangladesh ordered a lockdown and promised a program of relief. Citizens complied at first, but soon returned to economic and social life; relief proved slow and uncertain, and citizens could not rely on government assistance. The government tacitly and then officially permitted the lockdown to end, despite a rising Covid-19 caseload.

An adaptive governance and health system response for the COVID-19 emergency.

In the absence of an efficacious and affordable vaccine, the current crisis of COVID-19 is likely to be a long drawn one for many developing countries. In Bangladesh, where the entire population is susceptible and strict lockdown has been relaxed (as of May 31st 2020) due to concerns over saving livelihoods, the best available resources and capacities in the country have to be mobilized for an integrated and adaptive response strategy. In this paper we argue that a suitable response strategy for a country with highly constrained health system, must consider how response components will be delivered at scale, along with what can be delivered.

Estimating Catastrophic Costs due to Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Bangladesh.

To eliminate TB from the country by the year 2030, the Bangladesh National Tuberculosis (TB) Program is providing free treatment to the TB patients since 1993. However, the patients are still to make Out-of-their Pocket (OOP) payment, particularly before their enrollment Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS). This places a significant economic burden on poor-households.