Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused increasing challenges for healthcare professionals globally. However, there is a dearth of information about these challenges in many developing countries, including Bangladesh. This study aims to explore the challenges faced by healthcare professionals (doctors and nurses) during COVID-19 in Bangladesh.Methods: We conducted qualitative research among healthcare professionals of different hospitals and clinics in Khulna and Dhaka city of Bangladesh from May 2020 to August 2020. We conducted 15 in-depth telephone interviews using a snowball sampling technique. We used an in-depth interview guide as data were collected, audiotaped, and transcribed. The data were analyzed both manually and using QDA Miner software as we used thematic analysis for this study.Results: Seven themes emerged from the study. Participants experienced higher workload, psychological distress, shortage of quality personal protective equipment (PPE), social exclusion/stigmatization, lack of incentives, absence of coordination, and proper management during their service. These healthcare professionals faced difficulty coping with these challenges due to situational and organizational factors. They reported of faith in God and mutual support to be the keys to adapt to adversities. Adequate support to address the difficulties faced by healthcare professionals is necessary for an overall improved health outcome during the pandemic.Conclusion: The findings highlight the common challenges faced by healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 outbreak. This implies the need to support adequate safety kits, protocols, and support for both physical and mental health of the healthcare professionals.

There have been numerous studies about the health implication of COVID-19 on patients, but little attention has been paid to the impacts of the pandemic on physicians. Our paper attends to this gap by exploring the mental health of physicians in Bangladesh during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is particularly important since the mental health of physicians impacts not only on themselves, but also their professional performance and hence the care of patients. This study examined physicians' mental health outcomes by evaluating the prevalence and associated potential risk factors of anxiety and depression. Using a web-based cross-sectional survey, we collected data from 114 physicians. Seven-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) scale and Nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) were used to measure the anxiety and depression, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to explore the potential risk factors related to anxiety and depression. The prevalence of anxiety and depression were 32.5 and 34.2%, respectively. Findings revealed that marital status, work per day and current job location were the main risk factors for anxiety while sex, age, and marital status were the main risk factors for depression. Our results highlight the need to implement policies and strategies for positively impacting the mental health of physicians during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Factors affecting stunting among children under five years of age in BangladeshAshis TAlukder A-F , shAhArior rAhmAn rAzu A, D-F , md. zobAyer hossAin A, D-F orCid id: 0000-0002-5031-1128 khulna university, bangladeshBackground. Stunting is a major contributor to child morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Knowledge about the risk factors of stunting among children under five years of age is important for devising nutritional intervention programs and strategies.Objectives. This study attempts to uncover the risk factors associated with stunting status among children under five years of age in bangladesh.Material and methods. This study uses Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2014 data collected from an observational study. The ordinal dependent variable, child stunting status (categorized as severely stunted, moderately stunted and normal) is constructed by calculating height-for-age Z scores (HAZ). The bivariate analyses were performed using chi-square test to explore possible associations between stunting status and selected covariates. To know the marginal effects of independent variables, the proportional odds (PO) model was considered. Results. In bivariate setup, all the selected independent variables were found to be highly significant (p < 0.01). However, in multivariate analyses, child age, mother's education, mother's BMI and wealth index were found to be highly significant (p < 0.01) factors for the stunting status of children. The risk of having stunted children was found relatively higher in Chittagong (odds ratio = 1.466, p < 0.05), Sylhet (odds ratio = 1.345, p < 0.05) and Rangpur (odds ratio = 1.276, p < 0.1), compared to the Barisal division. Along with this, the birth interval of children (p < 0.05) and antenatal care service during pregnancy (p < 0.1) were found to be associated with child stunting status. Conclusions. Child age, mother's education, mother's BMI and wealth index were the most significant determinants in this study. Hence, policy makers should consider these factors while devising child nutrition programs and intervention strategies.

Background Symptoms of the novel coronavirus disease (COVD-19) are well known, although asymptomatic cases were also reported due to this rapidly evolving viral disease. However, there has been limited research with inconsistent findings on symptoms of COVID-19 and disease severity. We aimed to evaluate the association between symptoms and severity of disease in adult patients with confirmed COVID-19 by performing a meta-analysis. Methods We conducted this study by searching four online databases (Medline, Web of Science, EMBASE and Cochrane library) of published studies that included symptoms of COVID-19 cases and severity of the disease between January 1, 2020, and October 31, 2021. PRISMA and MOOSE guidelines were followed, and only articles published in English were selected. We performed meta-analysis using Mantel-Haenszel random-effects model. Note that we included peer-reviewed studies conducted in Wuhan and published in the English language that reported the clinical characteristics of COVID-19, particularly the symptoms of novel coronavirus patients with their prevalence and distribution of patients based on the severity of the disease. Results Out of 255 articles identified, a total of twenty articles, including 5390 participants, met the inclusion criteria and were included. Among the participants, 2997 (55.60%) were males, and 974 (18.07%) reported severe conditions. Fever was the most commonly reported symptom in the reported COVID-19 confirmed cases (88.47%, 95% CI: 80.74–93.35%), which was followed by cough, fatigue, and less proportionally dyspnea and myalgia. Dyspnea was the only symptom, which was associated with severity of COVID-19 (OR 2.43, 95% CI: 1.52–3.89). Conclusion Dyspnoea was found to be associated with severity of COVID-19. People with existing respiratory illnesses, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases need to be careful about the onset of such symptom and should seek medical attention.

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