Arsenic contamination in drinking water has a detrimental impact on human health which profoundly impairs the quality of life. Despite recognition of the adverse health implications of arsenic toxicity, there have been few studies to date to suggest measures that could be taken to overcome arsenic contamination. After the statement in 2000 WHO Bulletin that Bangladesh has been experiencing the largest mass poisoning of population in history, we researched existing literature to assess the magnitude of groundwater arsenic contamination in Bangladesh. The literature reviewed related research that had been initiated and/or completed since the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) under four domains: (1) extent of arsenic contamination; (2) health consequences; (3) mitigation and technologies and (4) future directions. To this means, a review matrix was established for analysis of previous literature based on these four core domains. Our findings revealed that several high-quality research articles were produced at the beginning of the MDG period, but efforts have dwindled in recent years. Furthermore, there were only a few studies conducted that focused on developing suitable solutions for managing arsenic contamination. Although the government of Bangladesh has made its population’s access to safe drinking water a priority agenda item, there are still pockets of the population that continue to suffer from arsenic toxicity due to contaminated water supplies.

Objective: Childhood stunting remains a major public health concern in Bangladesh. To accelerate the reduction rate of stunting, special focus is required during the first 23 months of a child’s life when the bulk of growth takes place. Therefore the present study explored individual-, maternal- and household-level factors associated with stunting among children under 2 years of age in Bangladesh.Design: Data were collected through a nationwide cross-sectional survey conducted between October 2015 and January 2016. A two-stage cluster random sampling procedure was applied to select 11 428 households. In the first stage, 210 enumerations areas (EA) were selected with probability proportional to EA size (180 EA from rural areas, thirty EA from urban slums). In the second stage, an average of fifty-four households were selected from each EA through systematic random sampling.Setting: Rural areas and urban slums of Bangladesh.Participants: A total of 6539 children aged 0–23 months.Results: Overall, 29·9 % of the children were stunted. After adjusting for all potential confounders in the modified Poisson regression model, child’s gender, birth weight (individual level), maternal education, age at first pregnancy, nutrition (maternal level), administrative division, place of residence, socio-economic status, food security status, access to sanitary latrine and toilet hygiene condition (household level) were significantly associated with stunting.Conclusions: The study identified a number of potentially addressable multilevel risk factors for stunting among young children in Bangladesh that should be addressed through comprehensive multicomponent interventions.

Anemia is a significant wide spread public health threat especially among the adolescent girls who are more vulnerable towards low level of hemoglobin particularly of low and middle income countries (LMICs). We investigated the prevalence of anemia among the adolescent girls (10–19 years) in Bangladesh and its socio-demographics distribution. We collected data digitally in ODK platform from a sub-sample of a nationwide cross-sectional survey of 1314 adolescent girls in 2015. Capillary blood hemoglobin level was estimated using HemoCue®; anthropometric measurements through standardized procedure and details socio-demographic information were captured and analyzed. Malnutrition was defined as BMI-for-age Z-score below -2SD (BAZ < −2SD), measured in WHO-AnthroPlus. Univariate analysis followed by multiple logistic regression were performed to examine the association between socio-demographic variables and anemia, while controlling the effect of potential confounding variables. Overall, 51.6% girls were suffering from any form of anemia (non-pregnant-Hb < 12 g/dl; pregnant-Hb < 11 g/dl) while 46% were mildly (non-pregnant-Hb: 10–11.9 g/dl; pregnant-Hb: 10–10.9 g/dl) and 5.4% were moderately (Hb: 7–9.9 g/dl) anemic while only 0.2% were severely anemic. After controlling for relevant covariates in multiple logistic regression model, malnutrition (AOR: 1.42, 95% CI = 1.0–2.10, p-value = 0.083), non-pregnancy (AOR: 6.10, 95% CI = 2.70–13.78, p-value < 0.001), and households with bottom wealth quintile (AOR: 1.54, 95% CI = 1.03–2.30, p-value = 0.037) were identified as significant risk factors of anemia among adolescent girls of Bangladesh. Higher number of adolescent girls are still suffering from anemia in Bangladesh and non-pregnant adolescent girls contributed the most. Immediate, long term and sustainable public health intervention would require to combat the situation.

A continuous influx of poor people to urban slums poses a challenge to Bangladesh’s health system as it has failed to tackle maternal morbidity and mortality. BRAC is the largest non-governmental organisation in Bangladesh. BRAC has been working to reduce maternal, neonatal and under-five children morbidity and mortality of slum dwellers in cities. BRAC has been doing this work for a decade through a programme called MANOSHI. This programme provides door-to-door services to its beneficiaries through community health workers (CHWs) and normal delivery service through its delivery and maternity centres. BRAC started the ‘MANOSHI’ programme in Narayanganj City Corporation during 2011 to address maternal, neonatal and child health problems facing slum dwellers. We investigated the existing maternal health-service indicators in the slums of Narayanganj City Corporation and compared the findings with a non-intervention area. This cross-sectional study was conducted during 2012, in 47 slums of Narayanganj City Corporation as intervention and 10 slums of Narsingdi Sadar Municipality as comparison area. A total of 1206 married women, aged 15–49 years, with a pregnancy outcome in the previous year were included for interview. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, reproductive and maternal health-care practices like use of contraceptive methods, antenatal care (ANC), delivery care, postnatal care (PNC) were collected through a structured questionnaire. The chi-square test, Student t test, Mann Whitney U-test, factor analysis and log-binominal test were performed by using STATA statistical software for analysing data. The activities of BRAC CHWs significantly improved four or more ANC (47% vs. 21%; p<0.000) and PNC (48% vs. 39%; p<0.01) coverage in the intervention slums compared to comparison slums. Still, about half of the deliveries in both areas were attended at home by unskilled birth attendants, of which a very few received PNC within 48 hours after delivery. The poorest and illiterate women received fewer maternal health services from medically trained providers (MTPs). The poorest had a lower likelihood of receiving services from MTPs during delivery complications. The MANOSHI programme service coverage for delivery care and PNC-checkup for women who prefer home delivery needs to be improved. For sustainable improvement of maternal health outcomes in urban slums, the programme needs to facilitate access to services for poor and illiterate women.

Chronic exposure to arsenic is associated with neoplastic, cardiovascular, endocrine, neuro-developmental disorders and can have an adverse effect on women’s reproductive health outcomes. This study examined the relationship between arsenic skin lesions (a hallmark sign of chronic arsenic poisoning) and age of natural menopause (final menopausal period) in populations with high levels of arsenic exposure in Bangladesh.