Background: Undernutrition among infants and young children in South Asia remains a major public health concern, contributing to high rates of morbidity and mortality. While quantitative systematic reviews have identified various risk factors for undernutrition, no review has focused on qualitative studies. This study aims to review published literature on family member and healthcare provider perceptions about influences on undernutrition among infants and young children in South Asia. Methods: We searched for qualitative research articles published from 2000 to 2026 in the PubMed, Scopus and CINAHL databases, and used the Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) tool to assess the quality of selected articles. Selected articles were analyzed thematically. The PROSPERO registration number is CRD42022385382. Results: After screening 201 research articles, 19 articles were selected for inclusion in this review. Perceived influences of undernutrition among children were categorized into individual, socio-cultural, economic, environmental and system factors. Interconnected influences included maternal illness, single motherhood, mothers’ knowledge and awareness, convenience of providing low-quality ready-made and junk food, spiritual beliefs and superstition, violence against women, financial constraints in a context of rising food prices and seasonal impacts on food production, and physical accessibility of healthcare services. Conclusions: This review emphasizes the complex interplay of influences on undernutrition among young children in South Asia. Potential interventions must be culturally tailored and gender-sensitive, with key strategies including nutrition education, community-based support, maternal health improvements, and policies addressing food insecurity and healthcare accessibility.

Background and objective: Child illness remains a significant public health challenge in low- and middle-income countries, including Bangladesh, with complex multifactorial causes extending beyond biomedical factors. This qualitative study explored perceived causes of child illness from the perspectives of caregivers and healthcare providers in rural and urban Bangladesh. Methods: Twenty-three in-depth interviews with primary caregivers, grandmothers, healthcare providers, and a group discussion with four community representatives revealed four primary categories of perceived illness causes. Results: Individual causes included maternal illness, forgetfulness, and knowledge gaps that affected caregiving practices, leading to missed vaccinations, poor hygiene and feeding practices. Socio-cultural causes included supernatural beliefs, intra-household power dynamics, domestic violence, maternal work burdens, early marriage, adolescent motherhood, and dowry practices. Economic causes included irregular income, rising food prices, and marketing of unhealthy products. Environmental causes included poor housing ventilation, inadequate waste management, heat wave exposure, urban air pollution, and water contamination, causing respiratory and waterborne diseases. Conclusions: These findings illustrate that child illness results from complex interactions between individual, socio-cultural, economic, and environmental causes. Potential interventions can address these multifaceted causes through comprehensive approaches including caregiver education, maternal empowerment strategies, economic support programs, and household environment improvements.

In coastal Bangladesh, climate-related hazards threaten health and primary healthcare (PHC) systems, already constrained by infrastructure, workforce, and energy gaps. Teknaf, a coastal sub-district of Cox’s Bazar, hosts part of the approximately 1.19 million Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMNs) living in Cox’s Bazar District, adding pressure on PHC facilities. Terre des hommes (Tdh), Climate Action Accelerator (CAA), and icddr,b, with local stakeholders, developed Climate-Resilient and Environmentally Sustainable Healthcare (CRESH) solutions for thirteen PHC facilities in Teknaf. This protocol describes a RE-AIM (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance)-guided longitudinal, mixed-methods evaluation to assess implementation feasibility, acceptability, fidelity, adaptation, immediate outcomes, potential indicators of sustainment, and scale-up of CRESH solutions. The evaluation comprises pre–post facility surveys (13 facilities, approximately 35 staff per round), pre–post beneficiary surveys in three facility catchments (186 interviews per round), and initial and concurrent qualitative assessments (interviews, focus group discussions, and facility observations). Data collection runs from January to October 2026 within a 22-month project (March 2025–December 2026). Quantitative data will be analyzed with survey-design methods in Stata 17, and qualitative data by framework analysis. Without a comparison group and with a short implementation period, observed changes will be reported as changes following implementation rather than as effects caused by CRESH. Study findings will inform policy, effectiveness trials, and scale-up in Bangladesh and similar climate-vulnerable, displacement-affected settings.