استكشف المجموعة الواسعة من العناوين المتاحة.

\"This book tells the story of Fazle Hasan Abed (1936-2019), a former finance executive with almost no experience in relief aid who founded BRAC in 1972. Abed's methods have changed the way global policymakers think about poverty\"-- Provided by publisher.

This report addresses the issue of what publicly-supported programs and external assistance from the Bank and other agencies can do to accelerate attainment of targets such as reducing infant mortality by two-thirds. The evidence presented here relates to Bangladesh, a country which has made spectacular progress but needs to maintain momentum in order to achieve its own poverty reduction goals. The report addresses the following issues:(1) What has happened to child health and nutrition outcomes and fertility in Bangladesh since 1990? Are the poor sharing in the progress which is being made? (2) What have been the main determinants of MCH outcomes in Bangladesh over this period?(3) Given these determinants, what can be said about the impact of publicly and externally-supported programs – notably those of the World Bank and DFID - to improve health and nutrition? and (4) To the extent that interventions have brought about positive impacts, have they done so in a cost effective manner?.

Bangladesh is one of the world's poorest countries. Nearly 80 percent of the nation's 140 million people reside in rural areas; of these, 20 percent live in extreme poverty. Geographically, many low-lying areas are vulnerable to severe flooding, while other regions are prone to drought, erosion, and soil salinity. Such an unfavorable agricultural landscape, combined with mismanagement of natural resources and increasing population pressure, is pushing many of the rural poor to the brink. Because Bangladesh is such a poor country, it also is one of the world's lowest energy producers. Total annual energy supply is only about 150 liters of oil equivalent per capita (International Energy Agency, or IEA 2003); in rural areas, conditions are even worse. Compared to other developing countries, Bangladesh uses little modern energy. Despite its successful rural electrification program, close to two-thirds of households remain without electricity and, with the exception of kerosene, commercial fuels are beyond reach for many. Moreover, biomass fuels are becoming increasingly scarce. Collected mainly from the local environment as recently as two decades ago, bio-fuels are fast becoming a marketed commodity as access to local biomass continues to shrink. This study, the first to concentrate on Bangladesh's energy systems and their effects on the lives of rural people, drew on these background studies, as well as other World Bank-financed research on indoor air pollution (IAP) and rural infrastructure, to present a rural energy strategy for the country. Much of this study's analytical underpinning was based on several background studies. This study also reanalyzed data from earlier research to better understand the benefits of modern energy use for rural households, farm activities, and small businesses.

This report is organized in such a way that the key policy options and strategic priorities are based on the country context, including the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and associated risk factors and the existing capacity of the health system. Chapter one describes the country and regional contexts and the evidence of the demographic and epidemiological transitions in Bangladesh; chapter two outlines the disease burden of major NCDs, including the equity and economic impact and the common risk factors; chapter three provides an assessment of the health system and its capacity to prevent and control major NCDs; chapter four summarizes ongoing NCD interventions and activities in Bangladesh and highlights the remaining gaps and challenges; and chapter five presents key policy options and strategic priorities to prevent and control NCDs.

Bangladesh seeks to attain middle-income status by 2021, the 50th anniversary of its independence. To accelerate growth enough to do so, it will need to undergo a structural transformation that will change the geography of economic production and urbanization. Critical to its transformation will be the creation of a globally competitive urban space, defined here as a space that has the capacity to innovate, is well connected internally and to external markets, and is livable (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD 2006; World Bank 2010). This study identifies what is unique about Bangladesh s process of urbanization and examines the implications for economic growth. Through the lens of Bangladesh s most successful industry, the garment sector, it describes the drivers of and constraints to urban competitiveness. Based on the findings, it provides policy directions to strengthen the competitiveness of Bangladesh s urban space in ways that will allow Bangladesh to reach middle-income status by 2021.

Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in raising living standards and reducing poverty, particularly in previously lagging regions. Rapid solar home system (SHS) expansion in Bangladesh to some 3 million rural households by early 2014 has drawn the attention of donors and governments of other countries. The books broad aim is twofold: (a) to assess the welfare impact of SHS on households, and (b) to evaluate the present institutional structure and financing mechanisms in place, noting that households want cheaper systems and good quality service while suppliers require a reasonable market-based profit to stay in business. The study entailed an intensive empirical investigation based on both primary and secondary data. The primary data consisted mainly of a large-scale, nationally representative household survey with appropriate geographic spread. Conducted in 2012 by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) and assisted by the World Bank, the household survey was designed to examine SHS benefits and costs. The book addresses a number of research issues, which are grouped according to general and gendered household impact, program delivery and monitoring of technical standards, market size and demand, and carbon emissions reduction. The book also analyzes household uses of solar-electric energy services. Typically, SHS models are used for lighting, powering fans and television sets, and charging mobile devices and other electrical equipment. Finally, the book evaluates the gender-disaggregated benefits and women's empowerment from SHS adoption. The gender analysis included two major research questions: (a) can the socioeconomic status of rural women be enhanced by increasing the opportunity to participate in alternative energy-service delivery, and (b) if SHS brings positive impacts in terms of social indicators, what additional efforts can supplement them to bring about a radical shift in gender roles and responsibilities. The book's findings show that better household lighting improves household welfare both directly and indirectly. The book has eight chapters. Chapter one is introduction. Chapter two describes the current status of Bangladesh's SHS expansion program, including salient features of system operation, as well as program delivery and financing. Chapter three reviews the role of electrification in rural development and international experience in using SHS as a complementary solution in remote off-grid areas. Based on the survey data findings, chapter four identifies the major drivers of SHS adoption and system capacity selection at the household and village level, while chapter five discusses and estimates the welfare benefits. Chapter six focuses on SHS market analysis and role of the subsidy, including consumers' willingness to pay and the potential impact of subsidy phase-out. Chapter seven turns to the quality of partner organization (PO) service and other supply-side issues, along with market constraints to meet future demand. Finally, chapter eight offers policy perspectives and a way forward.

We analyze the impact of an experimental maternal and child health and family planning program that was established in Matlab, Bangladesh, in 1977. Village data from 1974, 1982, and 1996 suggest that program villages experienced a decline in fertility of about 17 %. Household data from 1996 confirm that this decline in \"surviving fertility\" persisted for nearly two decades. Women in program villages also experienced other benefits: increased birth spacing, lower child mortality, improved health status, and greater use of preventive health inputs. Some benefits also diffused beyond the boundaries of the program villages into neighboring comparison villages. These effects are robust to the inclusion of individual, household, and community characteristics. We conclude that the benefits of this reproductive and child health program in rural Bangladesh have many dimensions extending well beyond fertility reduction, which do not appear to dissipate rapidly after two decades.

Hypertension is the leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease and leading cause of premature death globally. In 2008, approximately 40% of adults were diagnosed with hypertension, with more than 1.5 billion people estimated to be affected globally by 2025. Hypertension disproportionally affects low- and middle-income countries, where the prevalence is higher and where the health systems are more fragile. This qualitative study explored patients' experiences on the management and control of hypertension in rural Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. We conducted sixty semi-structured interviews, with 20 participants in each country. Hypertensive individuals were recruited based on age, gender and hypertensive status. Overall, patients' reported symptoms across the three countries were quite similar, although perceptions of hypertension were mixed. The majority of patients reported low knowledge on how to prevent or treat hypertension. The main barriers to accessing health services, as reported by participants, were inadequate services and poor quality of existing facilities, shortage of medicine supplies, busyness of doctors due to high patient load, long travel distance to facilities, and long waiting times once facilities were reached. Patients also mentioned that cost was a barrier to accessing services and adhering to medication. Many patients, when asked for areas of improvement, reported on the importance of the provider-patient relationship and mentioned valuing doctors who spent time with them, provided advice, and could be trusted. However, most patients reported that, especially at primary health care level and in government hospitals, the experience with their doctor did not meet their expectations. Patients in the three countries reported desire for good quality local medical services, the need for access to doctors, medicine and diagnostics and decreased cost for medication and medical services. Patients also described welcoming health care outreach activities near their homes. Areas of improvement could focus on reorienting community health workers' activities; involving family members in comprehensive counseling for medication adherence; providing appropriate training for health care staff to deliver effective information and services for controlling hypertension to patients; enhancing primary health care and specialist services; improving supplies of hypertensive medication in public facilities; taking into account patients' cultural and social background when providing services; and facilitating access and treatment to those who are most vulnerable.

There is a high prevalence of gender gap in Bangladesh which might affect women's likelihood to receive maternal healthcare services. In this backdrop, we aim to investigate how gender inequality measured by intrahousehold bargaining power (or autonomy) of women and their attitudes towards intimate partner violence (IPV) affects accessing and utilizing maternal health care services. We used Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) data of 2014 covering 5460 women who gave birth at least one child in the last three years preceding the survey. We performed logistic regression to estimate the effect of women's autonomy and their attitude towards IPV on access to and utilization of maternal healthcare services. Besides, we employed different channels to understand the heterogeneous effect of gender inequality on access to maternal healthcare services. We observed that women having autonomy positively influenced attaining five required antenatal care (ANC) services (AOR: 1.17; 95% CI: 0.98-1.41) and women's negative attitudes towards IPV were positively associated with five ANC services (AOR: 1.42; 95% CI: 1.02-1.97), sufficient ANC visits (COR: 1.55; CI: 1.19-2.01), skilled birth attendant (SBA) (AOR: 1.43; 95% CI: 1.05-1.94) and postnatal care (PNC) services (AOR: 1.44; 95% CI: 1.12-1.84). Besides, rural residency, religion, household wealth, education of both women and husband were found to have some of the important channels which were making stronger effect of gender inequality on access to maternal healthcare services. The findings of our study indicate a significant association between access to maternal healthcare services and women's autonomy as well as attitude towards IPV in Bangladesh. We, therefore, recommend to protect women from violence at home and mprove their intrahousehold bargaining power to increase their access to and utilization of required maternal healthcare services.

Social determinants of health is a core cross-cutting approach of the World Health Organization to reduce health inequalities, and places an emphasis on aged care planning in rural areas of low- and lower-middle income countries including Bangladesh. The complex correlated health and social factors in Bangladesh interplay to shape the healthcare access of rural people. This impact is significant for rural elderly women in particular who have been shown to access healthcare in ways that are described as ‘socially determined’. This study aimed to explore how this cohort related their healthcare access to their living circumstances and provided insight into how their healthcare access needs can be addressed. This study was a critical social theoretical exploration from conversational interviews held over three months with 25 elderly women in rural Bangladesh. Two critical social constructs, ‘emancipation’ of Habermas and ‘recognition’ of Honneth, were used in the exploration and explanation of the influence of personal circumstances, society and system on rural elderly women’s healthcare access. The concept of ‘social determinants of healthcare access’ is defined from the physical, emotive, symbolic and imaginative experiences of these women. Interviewing the women provided information for exploration of the determinants that characterized their experiences into an overall construct of ‘The World is Not Mine’. This construct represented four themes focusing on the exclusion from healthcare, oppressive socioeconomic condition, marginalization in social relationships and personal characteristics that led the women to avoid or delay access to modern healthcare. This study confirms that the rural elderly women require adequate policy responses from the government, and also need multiple support systems to secure adequate access to healthcare. As healthcare services are often a reflection of community values and human rights concerns for the elderly, there is a need of recognition and respect of their voice by the family members, society and the healthcare system in planning and implementation of a prudent aged care policy for rural elderly women in Bangladesh.