Background: Bullying victimisation is a global public health problem that has been predominantly studied in high income countries. This study aimed to estimate the population level prevalence of bullying victimisation and its association with peer and parental supports amongst adolescents across low and middle income to high income countries (LMICÀ ÀHICs). Methods: Data were drawn from the Global School-based Student Health Survey of school children aged 12À17 years, between 2003 and 2015, in 83 LMICÀ ÀHICs in the six World Health Organization (WHO) regions. We estimated the weighted prevalence of bullying victimisation at country, region and global level. We used multiple binary logistic regression models to estimate the adjusted association of age, gender, socioeconomic status, and parental support and peer support, and country level variables (GDP and government expenditure on education) with adolescent bullying victimisation. Findings: Of the 317,869 adolescents studied, 151,036 (48%) were males, and 166,833 (52%) females. The pooled prevalence of bullying victimisation on one or more days in the past 30 days amongst adolescents aged 12À17 years was 30¢5% (95% CI: 30¢2À31¢0%). The highest prevalence was observed in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (45¢1%, 44¢3À46¢0%) and African region (43¢5%, 43¢0À44¢3%), and the lowest in Europe (8¢4%, 8¢0À9¢0%). Bullying victimisation was associated with male gender (OR: 1¢21; 1¢11À1¢32), below average socio-economic status (OR: 1¢47, 1¢35À1¢61), and younger age (OR: 1¢11, 1¢0À1¢24). Higher levels of peer support (0¢51, 0¢46À0¢57), higher levels of parental support (e.g., understanding children's problems (OR: 0¢85, 0¢77À0¢95), and knowing the importance of free time spent with children (OR: 0¢77, 0¢70À0¢85)), were significantly associated with a reduced risk of bullying victimisation. Interpretations: Bullying victimisation is prevalent amongst adolescents globally, particularly in the Eastern Mediterranean and African regions. Parental and peer supports are protective factors against bullying victimisation. A reduction in bullying victimisation may be facilitated by family and peer based interventions aimed at increasing social connectedness of adolescents.

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IntroductionThe study related to the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is scanty in the context of Bangladesh, despite the growing necessity of understanding the mass people’s vaccination-related behavior. Thus, the present study was conducted to assess the prevalence of the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and its associated factors in Bangladesh to fill the knowledge gap.MethodologyThis study adopted a cross-sectional study design to collect data from 1497 respondents using online (Google forms) and face-to-face interviews. We employed descriptive statistics and multiple hierarchical linear regression analysis.FindingsThe prevalence of vaccine hesitancy was 41.1%. Men had less hesitancy (β = -0.046, p = 0.030) than women. The Muslims (β = 0.057, p = 0.009) and the respondents living in the city corporation areas (β = 0.132, p <0.001) had more hesitancy. There was significant variation in vaccine hesitancy by administrative divisions (geographic regions). The vaccine hesitancy tended to decrease with increasing knowledge about the vaccine (β = -0.072, p=0.001) and the vaccination process (β= -0.058, p = 0.018). On the other hand, hesitancy increased with the increased negative attitudes towards vaccine (β = 0.291, p <0.001) and conspiracy beliefs towards the COVID-19 vaccine (β = 0.105, p=0.004). The perceived severity of the COVID-19 (β = -0.079, p=0.002) and perceived benefits of COVID-19 vaccination (β = -0.180, p=0.001) were negatively associated with hesitancy, while perceived barriers (β = 0.180, p <0.001) were positively associated. The participants were more hesitant to accept the vaccine from a specific manufacturer.ConclusionThis study emphasizes that negative attitudes and conspiracies towards the COVID-19 vaccine should be reduced through effective communications and contracting with additional vaccine manufacturers should be prioritized. The barriers like online registration for receiving the COVID-19 vaccination need to be removed, and initiatives like text message service using the mobile phone operator can be introduced.HighlightsAbout 41% of the respondents had had hesitancy to accept the COVID-19 vaccine.The hesitancy increased with negative attitudes about vaccines and conspiracy beliefs.Perceived barriers to receive the vaccine were increasing vaccine hesitancy.Perceived severity of the COVID-19 decreased the vaccine hesitancy.Perceived benefits of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine decreased the vaccine hesitancy.

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This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of different forms of bullying victimization experiences and their association with family functioning, peer relationships and school connectedness among adolescents across 40 lower and middle income to high-income countries (LMIC-HICs). Data were drawn from the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) school-based survey of adolescents aged 11–15 years, between 2013 and 2014. We estimated the weighted prevalence by categorising experiences into traditional bullying victimization only, cyberbullying victimization only, and combined traditional and cyberbullying victimization, at country and country income classification. We used multinominal logistic regression models to estimate the adjusted association with the form of bullying victimization by demographic characteristics, family functioning, peer relationships and school connectedness. Overall, 8.0% reported traditional bullying victimization only (8.8% males, 7.4% females), 2.3% of adolescents reported cyberbullying victimization only (2.1% males, 2.2% females), and 1.7% reported combined traditional and cyber bullying victimization (1.7% males, 1.8% females). All three forms of bullying victimization during adolescence were significantly associated with poor family functioning, poor peer relations and poor school connectedness. A consistent finding is that traditional bullying victimization is considerably more common among adolescents across both LMICs and HICs than cyberbullying victimization. This study also demonstrated that a significant proportion of adolescent’s experience victimization in both forms. Positive family functioning, strong peer relationships and greater school connectedness are associated with a lower risk of both forms of bullying victimization.

The objective of this study is to examine the impact of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia's (AIM) microcredit program on their poor client's quality of life in rural Malaysia. AIM provides small scale financial services and training to poor and hardcore poor households in order to improve their socio-economic condition. This study employed a cross-sectional design with stratified random sampling method to examine whether participation in AIM's microfinance programs improves poor rural households quality of life. A quality of life index using eleven selected indicators was developed. Findings of this study extend the literature by providing empirical evidence that access to microfinance improved quality of life of the poor rural households in Malaysia. The findings show that respondent's participation status is associated with the size and quality of their houses. AIM should therefore focus on increasing the outreach as well as review and re-organize their programs in order to offer a dynamic and well-diversified microfinance program to fulfill all financial needs of their poor clients in rural areas.