The ubiquitous nature of early marriage which practiced across all background and social divides in Bangladesh causing a lot of concerns as according to UNICEF report on

Improving maternal health and reducing maternal mortality rate (MMR) are major challenges for Bangladesh. Utilization of antenatal care (ANC) services from skilled professionals and deliveries in health facilities are therefore important to tackle MMR and socioeconomic differences play a major part for these service utilization. The purpose of the current study was to identify the level and determinants of ANC and health facility delivery care utilization in Subornochor upazila (a rural sub-district), Noakhali, Bangladesh. The study was a community based cross sectional study. A total of 360 women (15-49 years) who had a child in the last five years preceding the survey were interviewed and studied. The results of overall analysis showed that only 34.6% women received ANC from health professionals, whereas mere 5.3% deliveries were taken place at health facilities. Mother's education, partner's occupation, family income and area of residence were significant predictors of these services utilization. Place of receiving ANC was an influencing factor of health facility delivery. Women who didn't receive ANC in health facilities were almost three times (OR: 2.95, 95% CI: 1.06-7.9) less likely to deliver in health facilities compared to the women who received ANC. The study underscores the urgent need of addressing socioeconomic differences and targeted interventions might help the women who need to utilize these services more often. The study also pointed out huge differences of these services utilization with national average. Though further investigation is necessary but emphasis should be given more to address the barriers of maternal health service.

Objectives: Adolescence, a crucial period for growth velocity including sexual maturation, is an important period of life and young adolescent girls need to have proper knowledge, positive attitudes and practice of balanced diet to achieve optimum growth and development. Considering its importance this study attempts to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of balanced diets among adolescent schoolgirls in Noakhali district, Bangladesh. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in three secondary schools in Noakhali district, Bangladesh. A multistage sampling techniques was used to select schools and study participants. A total of 485 adolescent school girls participated and a pre-designed, validated and structured questionnaire was used for data collection. In addition to descriptive statistics, chi-square test and logistic regression were employed for analysis. Results: The results from the study revealed that more than half of the students did not have good knowledge about a balanced diet, 42.8% had a positive attitude, whereas the practice of consuming a balanced diet was rather low (only 4.5%). Students studying in government schools had better knowledge and attitudes than non-government school students. Moreover, 41.1% of students were underweight; more than 60% of respondent’s mothers did not have an education higher than secondary school and were mostly unemployed housewives. Parent’s education, mother’s occupation, and types of school have a strong association with KAP; however, father’s education and occupation showed an association of varying degrees. Being knowledgeable was related to positive attitudes, and students with good knowledge had (OR: 1.828; 95% CI: 1.270–2.631) more likely to have positive attitudes towards a balanced diet. Conclusions: Thus, proper knowledge about a balanced diet should be introduced with basic nutritional knowledge to all levels of public education. Interventions and programs can be designed to improve knowledge, attitude, and more specifically the practice at the household level so that adolescent girls can have a proper diet during their sexual maturation phase.

Numerous benefits have been associated with omega-3 fatty acid consumption during pregnancy and the postpartum period, whether it is consumed in the diet with seafood or via supplements such as fish oil. This review primarily aimed to assess the current situation of the impact of omega-3 long-chain Poly Unsaturated Fatty Acid (PUFA) supplementation on the outcomes of pregnancy. The electronic search of Medline, PubMed, Public Library of Science (PLOS) and Google Scholar databases was carried out for papers from 01 February 1995 to 01 March 2017 using keywords such as “pregnancy,” “supplement,” “long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids,” “omega 3 fatty acids,” and “clinical trials.” Out of twenty-six studies, both observational and interventional, fourteen studies found the influence of omega 3 fatty acids during pregnancy or the early postpartum period on the duration of gestation and infant size at birth, preeclampsia, depression, and infant visual function and neurodevelopment have been reported. Omega 3 fatty acid intakes (both in terms of absolute amounts of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and the ratio of these 2 fatty acids) varied widely in these studies, however, and no clear consensus exists regarding the effects of omega 3 fatty acids on any of these outcomes. Because of the potential importance of these fatty acids for pregnant or lactating women, fetus, and newborn infants and the limited data from clinical trials assessing the effect of these fatty acids on pregnancy and infant outcomes, additional research is required to better define optimal intakes of specific omega 3 fatty acids during these critical periods.

This study examines the association of depressive and anxiety symptoms with diet quality among university students while controlling for different demographic and other health and lifestyle factors. This cross-sectional study was carried out between April 2021 and June 2021 among a total of 440 (unweighted) university students. Diet quality was assessed using a 10-item mini-dietary assessment index tool. The depressive and anxiety symptoms of participants were measured using the validated Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) scale, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression and mediation analyses were performed. In this study, 61.1% (95% CI: 56.6% to 65.7%) of university students’ diet quality was good during the COVID-19 pandemic. Being a post-graduate student, an urban resident, having no depressive (AOR = 2.15, 95% CI: 1.20 to 3.84) and anxiety symptoms (AOR = 1.96, 95% CI: 1.07 to 3.59), no changes or improvement in appetite, and no changes in sleep duration were significantly associated with good diet quality among our study participants. Depressive and anxiety symptoms during COVID-19 had a significant effect on the diet quality of university students. Future public health policies need to be focused on improving the mental health and well-being of students particularly during pandemic situations to enhance their diet quality.

Suboptimal diets contribute to child malnutrition globally. The Engaging Fathers for Effective Child Nutrition and Development in Tanzania (EFFECTS) study developed interventions that engaged fathers and delivered bundled nutrition and parenting content and tested their individual and combined effects on child dietary diversity and upstream parental behaviors. In a cluster‐randomized controlled trial in Mara, Tanzania, 80 villages were randomly assigned (1:1:1:1:1) to standard care, a nutrition intervention engaging either mothers or both parents, or a bundled nutrition and parenting intervention engaging either mothers or both parents. Eligible households ( n = 960) had a child under 18 months at enrollment (October 2018–May 2019). Community health workers (CHWs) delivered gender‐transformative social and behavior change interventions through parental peer group sessions before March 2020 and subsequently through home visits. The primary outcome, child dietary diversity, and secondary outcomes on child feeding practices, morbidity, growth, and parental behaviors were assessed prior to, during, and after intervention. Intention‐to‐treat analyses used generalized linear mixed models. Engaging fathers while providing bundled content increased children's dietary diversity by 0.60 food groups/day (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.18–1.02) and 0.96 food groups/week (CI: 0.51–1.41) more than standard care. Significant interaction between father engagement and bundled content was detected for children's consumption of dairy ( p = 0.04). Positive intervention effects were detected on several maternal and paternal behaviors related to household food access via home production or local food markets, complementary feeding, and hygiene practices. Gender‐transformative interventions, delivered by CHWs engaging both parents with bundled nutrition and parenting content, can synergistically improve children's diets. Trial registration: ACTRN1261900070419