Objective: This study aimed to investigate the association between depressive symptoms among mothers and the eating behaviors of their school-going children in Urban Bangladesh. Materials and methods: This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in the context of the urban area of Bangladesh. A multistage sampling technique was applied to select 324 children’s mothers in Dhaka City. Data were collected from both city corporation settings in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Semi-structured questionnaires were used in this study. We estimated the depressive symptoms among mothers using the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale. We examined the association of mothers of school-going children’s socio-demographic variables and eating behaviors of school-going children with their mother’s depression by using chi-square and evaluating the impact of these variables on mothers’ depression through univariate and multivariate binary logistic regression. Results: In our study, 57.7% of the mothers of school-going children had depressive symptoms, and 42.3% had no depressive symptoms. The study explored that consuming fewer vegetables (AOR = 0.237, 95% CI: 0.099–0.569), taking fewer fruits (AOR = 0.177, 95% CI: 0.093–0.337), and interestingly, taking fast food less than 4 days per week (AOR = 3.024, 95% CI: 1.517–6.031) were significantly associated with mothers’ depressive symptoms. Conclusion: Mothers with depressive symptoms of school-going children in Dhaka city are alarmingly high as a grave concern. The eating behaviors of children are associated with their mothers’ depressive symptoms. With an aim to build rigorous awareness on depression and child’s healthy eating behaviors, it is imperative to arrange health education and awareness related programs.

Birth asphyxia is a severe clinical problem worldwide that contributes to neonatal mortality and morbidity. This study aimed to explore the prevalence of birth asphyxia and its associated risk factors among neonates attending in a selected Bangladeshi tertiary level public hospital. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College & Hospital, Dhaka, from January to December 2019. A systematic sampling technique was selected for the study sample. Data were collected by conducting a face-to-face interview with the selected respondents. The validated APGAR score measured neonates’ health status. Among the 377 neonates, 11.93% had birth asphyxia.This study found a significant association (p = 0.039) between neonate’s health/asphyxia status and the young age (15 to 20 years) of mothers. In addition, term period (p = 0.03), low birth weight (p = 0.007), Caesarean section ((C-section) (p = 0.017)), abortion and prolonged labor duration (> 12 hours) were strongly associated with birth asphyxia in neonates. The study concludes that the young age of mothers, term period, low birth weight, C-section delivery, abortion, and longer labor duration were significantly associated with the birth asphyxia. It is recommended to raise extensive awareness among the husbands and other family members. Notably, parental training bears a pivotal role to play in maintaining and restoring maternal as well as neonatal health.

In an unprecedented way, COVID-19 patients in Bangladesh have suffered greatly due to the severity of the complications. Additionally, treatment management was also a grave concerning issue. This study explored the extent of COVID-19 complications associated with the pattern of COVID-19 Prevention and Treatment Management in the context of Bangladesh. This cross-sectional study included 659 COVID-19-positive patients aged 18 and up who were treated at home or in hospitals and lived in Dhaka city From April to September 2021. The results showed that 20.5% had a mild COVID-19 infection. Family income, the number of co-morbidities, and the location of therapy were found to have a substantial impact on recovery time. In addition, there were high correlations between age, the number of co-morbidities, level of education, and the place of treatment with the severity of Covid-19 infection. The government should place a greater emphasis on training and resources to ensure efficient hospital management and widespread public knowledge as a precaution for further phenomena like COVID-19.

Rationality analysis of the prescribing pattern of antibiotics for pediatric patients can help to point towards irrationality and can make a consensus among physicians for rational prescribing. This study was aimed at identifying the antibiotic prescription survey in pediatric outpatient prescriptions. This study was carried out in two hospitals namely; Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, and General Hospital Katsina Nigeria during the period of October to December 2019. A total of 600 prescriptions cumulatively were used as a sample and were selected using the convenience sampling technique. For data collection, a self-designed data collection sheet was used. WHO / INRUD prescribing indicators were used for the analysis of prescription patterns. A total of 600 prescriptions (364 from UDUTHS and 236 from GHKS) were selected and used for the study. Most of the patients admitted to the two selected hospitals were male. The patient’s ages varied from a few months to 12 years, with the majority aged 4 years or less (61.0%) of age. From the 600 prescriptions evaluated, 1564 drugs (912 from UDUTHS and 652 GHKS) were prescribed. The average number of drugs per encounter in UDUTHS and GHKS were 3.0±0.4 and 3.2±0.7 respectively. The percentages of encounters with an antibiotic prescribed in both hospitals were similar: 32.1% for UDUTHS and 31.1% for GHKS. Most antibiotics were targeted at respiratory tract infections Roxithromycin 126 (21.0%) was the most frequently prescribed antibiotic and was prescribed by the proprietary name. This study has revealed inappropriate drug prescriptions in the pediatric outpatient in these hospitals. These include the low rate of prescriptions in generic names; extensive polypharmacy; and inappropriate prescription of antibiotics which could lead to drug-drug interaction and adverse drug reaction is also evident in these hospitals.

Community Clinic bears a phenomenal role to play in strengthening, expanding, and sustaining our health care delivery system what opens up a new horizon in terms of ensuring primary health care as an exemplary to the rest of the world. Amid challenges since its inception in 1998, it has been growing up with acceptance and appreciation by the rural population across the country. Astounding use rate of the CC, more than 100 million people were treated in 2016, tells a story of success indeed. In reality, this fascinating story does not encompass all of the CCs where some of them are facing multiple challenges. My aim of this work is to figure out the underlying reasons what basically work as navigators to seek care from the quacks or the quack cum pharmacists other than the CC. Lack of scientific work on regarding this issue in that particular context motivates me to pursue for conducting this study. In order to accomplish the investigation, household survey approach was dealt with 100 households from two villages, Belghoria and Sarkatia, of Ranningara upazila where the CCs are located in that vicinity. From the empirical investigation, it is addressed that the key determinants of demand for health care; level of education and level of income; from the CC are not playing a robust role. Instead of those, the problem of comparative low use rate of the CC lies on the determinants of supply side; the unavailability of the CHCP and the drugs, what ultimately strengthens the traditional outlook towards the CC by the villagers. Once the provision of drugs is ended, the CC becomes literally meaningless except few responsibilities conducted by the HA and FWA. No incentive for the CHCP and the clients to go there. Villagers, the potential clients of the CC, had no choice except going to the quack or the quack cum pharmacists. On that ground, some reforms can change the scenario drastically. To kick off the concerted framework for sustainable health-sensible generation can be a robust policy decision because of clarifying about the understanding of the CC and its relationship with the community people through forming ‘Village Solidarity Group’ which can be geared up on the same ground, i.e. primary school, with an aim to ensure the availability of CHCP and the provision of the drugs based on equity and justice irrespective of social identity and kinship. It is an instrumental to make the Government understand that the quantity of the drug items should be provided based on the necessity. Necessary trainings including training on drug resistance is highly recommended for the CHCP.

Patterns and Aftermath of Sexual Health-related Misuse of Digital Media in Bangladesh: A Public Health Concern