The recent COVID-19 pandemic has imposed threats on both physical and mental health since its outbreak. This study aimed to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among a representative sample of home-quarantined Bangladeshi adults. A cross-sectional design was used with an online survey completed by a convenience sample recruited via social media. A total of 1,427 respondents were recruited, and their mental health was assessed by the DASS-21 measure. The prevalence of anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms was 33.7% and 57.9%, respectively, and 59.7% reported mild to extremely severe levels of stress. Perceptions that the pandemic disrupted life events, affected mental health, jobs, the economy and education, predictions of a worsening situation, and uncertainty of the health care system capacities were significantly associated with poor mental health outcomes. Multivariate logistic regressions showed that sociodemographic factors and perceptions of COVID-19 significantly predict mental health outcomes. These findings warrant the consideration of easily accessible lowintensity mental health interventions during and beyond this pandemic.

Highlights This is the first few studies exploring the perceptions of Bangladeshi students towards the COVID-19 pandemic. Female students showed higher stress levels, greater anxiety symptoms and, depressive symptoms. Younger students had a greater psychological impact due to COVID-19 than senior students. The psychological impact is higher among those students who have at least one COVID-19 like symptoms.

Background Food handlers can play a vital role into reducing foodborne diseases by adopting appropriate food handling and sanitation practices in working plants. This study aimed to assess the factors associated with food safety knowledge and practices among meat handlers who work at butcher shops in Bangladesh. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 300 meat handlers from January to March, 2021. Data were collected through in-person interviews using a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of three parts; socio-demographic characteristics, assessments of food safety knowledge, and food safety practices. A multiple logistic regression model was used to identify the factors associated with food safety knowledge and practices. Results Only 20% [95% confidence interval, (CI) 15.7–24.7] and 16.3% (95% CI 12.3–20.7) of the respondents demonstrated good levels of food safety knowledge and practices, respectively. The factors associated with good levels of food safety knowledge were: having a higher secondary education [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 4.57, 95% CI 1.11–18.76], income above 25,000 BDT/month (AOR = 10.52, 95% CI 3.43–32.26), work experience of > 10 years (AOR = 9.31, 95% CI 1.92–45.09), ≥ 8 h per day of work (AOR = 6.14, 95% CI 2.69–13.10), employed on a daily basis (AOR = 4.05, 95% CI 1.16–14.14), and having food safety training (AOR = 8.98 95% CI 2.16–37.32). Good food safety knowledge (AOR = 5.68, 95% CI 2.33–13.87) and working ≥ 8 h per day (AOR = 8.44, 95% CI 3.11–22.91) were significantly associated with a good level of food safety practice. Conclusions Poor knowledge and practices regarding food safety were found among Bangladeshi meat handlers. Findings may help public health professionals and practitioners develop targeted strategies to improve food safety knowledge and practices among this population. Such strategies may include education and sensitization on good food safety practices.

The world is striving against the severe crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare professionals are struggling to treat their patients based on nonspecific therapies. Amidst this uncertainty, convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) has appeared to be an interim adjuvant therapy for severely ill patients of COVID-19 until long-term clinical trial treatment options are available. Considering the transfusion-related hazards, especially lung injuries and microbial transmission, where sensitivity is not ensured, rigorous trials should be conducted to determine this therapy's efficacy. Moreover, the ratio of recovered cases to plasma donors is not satisfying, which questioning this therapy's availability and accessibility. Although some countries are making the treatment free, the attributable cost mandates a justification for its suitability and sustainability. Our article aimed to review the published facts and findings of CPT's effectiveness in lowering the mortality rate of COVID-19. This pandemic showed that healthcare systems worldwide need core reform. A unified global collaboration must align and coordinate to face the current pandemic and enhance world readiness for future outbreaks based on health equity and equality.

Aim The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has rapidly infected people worldwide, leading to a massive public reaction. Peoples’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) toward COVID-19 are the most important for the control and prevention of the infectious disease pandemic. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and preventive practices (KAP) toward the COVID-19 among Bangladeshi residents during the lockdown situation. Subjects and methods An online-based cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1765 Bangladeshi adults through the social media networks of the authors. Results The respondents were older than 18 years, with an average age of 24.88 years (SD 6.30). Approximately 15% of our participants received online training. The mean knowledge score was 14.49 (SD 1.8, range 0–17), and the overall correct response rate on this knowledge test was 85%. Approximately 67.2% scored well (above the mean 4.5, range 1–5) regarding the practices. To avoid the infection, 96.6% wore masks outside the home, and 98.7% washed their hands with soap when they came back. COVID-19 knowledge score was significantly associated with a lower odds of (OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.79–0.92) negative attitudes. Again, the awareness score was associated with a lower likelihood of (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.87–0.98) poor practices. Conclusion Online health education programs focusing on young people, housewives, and people with less education may potentially improve the attitudes and practices to control the COVID-19 pandemic in the long term in such a low-resource setting.

Eating disorders among university students have been increasing day by day in developing countries. However, there is a dearth of existing literature that assessed eating disorder risk among this population group in Bangladesh. Thus, this study aimed to assess the prevalence of eating disorder risk and its associated factors among university students. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 365 Bangladeshi public university students from October to December 2019. Data were collected by self-reported questionnaire on socio-demographic characteristics, risk of eating disorder, and nutritional status of study participants. The respondents' eating disorder risk and nutritional status were assessed using the validated eating attitudes test-26 (EAT-26) tool and anthropometric measurement, respectively. A cut-off score of ≥ 20 based on EAT-26 indicates the presence of an eating disorder risk. Finally, a binary logistic regression was employed to identify the determinants of an eating disorder. The prevalence of 'eating disorder risk' was 23.0% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 18.6 to 27.4). Being female (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 2.4, 95% CI: 1.4 to 4.2), aged between 17-21 years (AOR = 2.0, 95% CI: 1.2 to 3.6), overweight (AOR = 4.9; 95% CI: 1.6 to 14.9) and obese (AOR = 7.7, 95% CI: 1.9 to 31.4) showed a higher odds of having an eating disorder risk in the present study. The higher prevalence of eating disorders in the study indicates that psychological intervention and health awareness programs, particularly to younger age, female, and overweight and obese students at the university level, would effectively prevent the eating disorder risk.

Background Although women in South Asia and South-east Asia have developed their knowledge regarding modern contraceptive and other family planning techniques, limited information exists on the influence of mass media exposure on the utilization of contraceptives and family planning. The current study examined the association between media exposure and family planning in Myanmar and Philippines. Methods The study analyzed data from the 2017 Philippines National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) and 2015–16 Myanmar Demographic and Health Survey (MDHS). Three family planning indicators were considered in this study (i.e., contraceptive use, demand satisfied regarding family planning and unmet need for family planning). A binary logistic regression model was fitted to see the effect of media exposure on each family planning indicator in the presence of covariates such as age group, residence, education level, partner education level, socio-economic status, number of living children, age at first marriage, and working status. Results The prevalence of contraception use was 57.2% in the Philippines and 55.7% in Myanmar. The prevalence of demand satisfied regarding family planning was 70.5 and 67.1% in the Philippines and Myanmar respectively. Unmet need regarding family planning was 16.6% and 19.9% in the Philippines and Myanmar respectively. After adjusting for the covariates, the results showed that women who were exposed to media were more likely to use contraception in Philippines (aOR = 2.24, 95% CI = 1.42–3.54) and Myanmar (aOR 1.39, 95% CI = 1.15–1.67). Media exposure also had a significant positive effect on demand satisfaction regarding family planning in the Philippines (aOR = 2.19, 95% CI = 1.42–3.37) and Myanmar (aOR = 1.34, 95% CI = 1.09–1.64). However, there was no significant association between media exposure and unmet need in both countries. Conclusions The study established a strong association between mass media exposure and the use and demand satisfaction for family planning among married and cohabiting women in Philippines and Myanmar. Using mass media exposure (e.g., local radio, television- electronic; newspapers) to increase both access and usage of contraceptives as well as other family planning methods in these countries could be pivotal towards the attainment of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3) of improving maternal health.

Since its emergence in the last decade, zakah has become a new hope for the low-level income society to improve their opportunity to break through the poverty line. However, the potential of zakah to eradicate the poverty is yet to be achieved, it happens due to three reasons, they are (1) the proportion of zakah fund that has been distributed into the economy sectors has not become a major program; (2) the regulation regarding zakat still hanging; (3) the consumptive behavior still become the driving factors in the society. This paper is attempted to measure mustahiqs’ satisfaction over zakah distribution, which is affecting they opportunities to improve their living standard. By presenting the data in form of field research and using regression found that the service quality mentoring is influencing the satisfaction of mustahiqs. =========================================== Perkembangan zakat dalam dekade terakhir ini menjadikannya sebagai sebuah harapan baru bagi masyarakat berpendapatan rendah untuk meningkatkan kesempatannya untuk keluar dari garis kemiskinan. Namun, potensi zakat dalam mengurangi kemiskinan masih belum dapat dicapai, hal ini terjadi karena tiga alasan, (1) proporsi dana zakat yang didistribusikan kepada sektor- sektor ekonomi bukanlah menjadi program utama; (2) Aturan yang berkaitan dengan zakat masih belum berjalan dengan baik; (3) Perilaku konsumtif masih menjadi faktor yang berpengaruh di dalam masyarakat. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengukur kepuasan mustahiq melalui distribusi zakat yang dapat mempengaruhi kesempatan guna meningkatkan standar hidup mereka. Dengan memaparkan data dalam bentuk riset lapangan dan menggunakan regresi maka ditemukan bahwa kualitas pelayanan, mentoring dapat mempengaruhi kepuasan mustahiq.